Nominate your own Essential Race

As Crisitunity noted in this afternoon's Daily Digest, the DLCC recently unveiled the first wave of our “Essential Races” program – highlighting key legislative districts that we anticipate will show which way the political tide is turning this fall.

But the Essential Races program is a two-way street.

That's why we're so excited to announce that on October 13th, the DLCC will add 10 grassroots-nominated districts to the Essential Races list, determined by nominations from individuals like you.

Anyone can submit a nomination, and any state legislative campaign in 2010 is eligible.

Simply click here or visit www.dlcc.org/2010Races to nominate an Essential Race.

Back in 2008, the Essential Races chosen through public nominations included a lot of campaigns in battleground states, but they also included a few campaigns in states that weren't top targets, but where something about the district or the Democratic nominee made the race unique and deserving of special attention.

We might have overlooked some of those key races without help from supporters like you, and we'd be foolish not to ask for your help again this year.

Swing State Project is the place to go for information like that.  So if you know of a critical state legislative campaign that you think deserves special attention, please visit www.dlcc.org/2010Races to submit your nomination.

Sincerely,
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee

29 thoughts on “Nominate your own Essential Race”

  1. I volunteered for a few days earlier this summer in Bayside. He’s a solid candidate running against a ridiculously conservative state senator who has been in office since the mid 70s(!) and is wayyyy too conservative for a district that went 63% for Obama.

    A great pickup opportunity in NYC. I highly recommend it.

  2. Offense: 105, Loretta Haldenwang, Irving (Dallas County)

    While I am happy to see 113 on the list already, this is THE district that democrats have a chance of winning. This district was lost by 19 votes with a  candidate who was little more than a name on the ballot in 2008. Haldenwang has been aggressive and is hitting incumbent Republican Linda HarperBrown on corruption issues (even though there is also plenty to go after regarding scape-goading brown people). Best thing is the bumper stickers she has that says “My lawyers tell me my other is car is technically not a bribe” at lindaharperbenz.com

    -Obama 51.5% (21,852), McCain 47.4% (20,097)

    -http://voteloretta.com/Default.aspx

    Defense for the Past: 1, Stephen Frost, Texarkana (Bowie, Cass, Marion, and Morris Counties)

    Rural counties are dying as opportunities for democrats. Stephen Frost is one of five rural dems left in Texas (The others are McReynolds12, Heflin-85, Homer-3, and the retiring Farabee-69). While Farabee’s open seat is gone for the dems these other four will be contested. There has been polling by both Frosts’s campaign and his opponent. Frost says he’s ahead by 20%+, his opponent is claiming a 4% lead. Word is Frost’s poll was a push poll. Frost was re-elected by 8% in 2008.

    -Obama 31.8% (17,990), McCain 67.5% (38,139)

    Defense for the Future: 52, Diana Maldonado, Round Rock (Williamson County)

    Meanwhile, the suburbs is the future for Texas Democrats. Maldonado has a leaked poll saying she’s ahead 50%42%. I don’t buy it, this one has to be closer. This, north of Austin district encompasses much of what the future statewide electorate will be. WInning and maintaining this district will help set a template for how to win in Texas’ future. I considered Maldonado to be one of three MUST WIN races in 2008 (the other two were Joe Moody of El Paso and Carol Kent of Dallas) the only difference was she was the only one not to win by a huge margin, or even over 50% (won with 48.6%), even though she was running for an open seat.

    -Obama 48.5% (36,419), McCain 49.5% (37,154)

    -http://www.dianamaldonado.com/

    Texas Tribune has a nice round up of races this cycle in Texas, here’s the breakdown: “Likely” flipping 4 D, 1 R; On the bubble 4 D, 1 R; and Upset possible 6 D, 5 R.  

    http://www.texastribune.org/te

    I maintain on Texas, If we democrats finish with 70 seats or greater, we did REALLY well.

  3. State Representative Judy Barker in TN House 77 is a critical seat to hold, as it was John Tanner’s old seat before he ran for Congress, but unfortunately is now a highly contested seat for a second cycle in a row. She is favored to win, but it’s a seat that would be indicative of how good, or bad, a year TN Democrats have in the House. She is a intelligent, compassionate, and dedicated public servant, or in other words somebody who deserves to get re-elected for all the right reasons beyond pure politics.

    On the Senate side, Lowe Finney in District 27, is a critical swing District. Finney is a young and dynamic candidate, the sort of candidate who will be essential in rebuilding and re-branding the TNDP. He represents a urban/rural district centered around Jackson that is at the heart of the 8th Congressional District; and holding this seat will be vital to keeping any sort viable minority in the Senate.

  4. this may be one of the few times a candidate, or political arm has reached out to the SSP community with a diary and have done it correctly.  kudos.  also shea porter!

  5. He’s a longtime Deputy District Attorney in Weld County, Colorado. He’s really one hell of a guy, and Scott Renfroe, the Republican incumbent he’s running against, is a wingnut with a history of making incendiary remarks.

  6. The incumbent GOP member is retiring and Dr. Beth, a local veterinarian, is making a strong pitch for this two-county seat in Western NC.  It’s a Republican seat by nature but one of the few places where Democrats are playing offense.  We’re likely to lose the NC Legislature this year (I might make a diary about that if I’m not lazy) but she would be a great addition to next year’s General Assembly.  She’s been raising money and doing lots of canvassing and making calls.  The district is R+9, but don’t be mislead, there are tons of local Democrats in both Burke and Caldwell Counties.

    http://www.bethjonesforsenate.com

  7. Let me break down what’s on the line for us here in Nevada…

    Senate:

    District 8 (Summerlin)

    Incumbent: Barbara Cegavske (R)

    atdleft’s Impartial Ranking: Tossup

    Cegavske must be thanking her lucky stars that she’s running this year instead of 2008. Next door in District 6, long time GOP stalwart Bob Beers famously lost to political neophyte/local business owner Alison Copening over his polarizing hard-core conservatism and not realizing Obama’s campaign drove Nevada Democrats into overdrive. But even though 2010 may not be as scary of a cycle for Republicans this year, Cegavske still must deal with her own polarizing hard-core conservatism in a district where Democrats have a slight 0.9% registration edge. And Democrats got an all star recruit of a candidate with legal maven Tammy Peterson. And with Harry Reid and Dina Titus both counting on the party to pump up Democratic turnout for them, th GOP can’t count on an “enthusiasm gap” to save Cegavske (but maybe a “voting gap” if some Dems undervote).

    District 9 (Summerlin/Mountain’s Edge/Southern Highlands/Primm)

    Open (R) Seat

    atdleft’s Impartial Ranking: Tossup

    This is probably the Democrats’ best chance of a Senate pickup this year. Incumbent moderate Republican Dennis Nolan was “tea partied” out by a primary challenge by super neophyte 27 year old no-name secretary “office manager” and teabagger darling Elizabeth Halseth. So all of a sudden, what had been a likely GOP hold is now fully in play and a young newcomer by the name of Benny Yerushalmi all of a sudden has a great chance at joining “The Gang of 63”. This will definitely be a hard fought race until the very end, but Benny does have the advantage of a 2.4% Dem registration edge and a strong Dem field operation.

    District 12 (Mesquite/Henderson/Boulder City/Laughlin)

    Open (R) Seat

    atdleft’s Impartial Ranking: Leans Republican

    This is without a doubt the most stretched district, bordering Arizona all the way from Mesquite to Laughlin! And there are plenty of rural areas here that strongly favor Republicans, so Assembly Member Joe “Doc” Hardy (R-Boulder City) has a natural advantage here. However this district also contains many Vegas suburbs, from Henderson’s fringes to North Las Vegas’ Aliante master planned community, so all in all the GOP only has a slight 1.2% registration edge here AND Obama carried this district in 2008. Plus, Democrats recruited a top-notch legal eagle Aaron Ford to run here. Still, Ford has to deal with Hardy’s entrenched status in Boulder City and the rurals’ seething hatred of all things Reid and Titus. But if the Dem Machine can whip out enough Reid & Titus voters in this district to keep voting down the ballot, Ford may have a chance.

    District 5 (Henderson/Silverado Ranch)

    Incumbent: Joyce Woodhouse (D)

    atdleft’s Impartial Ranking: Leans Democratic

    This is the one Senate race where Democrats have to play defense. The Republicans are pouring money into attacking Woodhouse as a “loony liberal” in this closely divided suburban district (Dems have about a 1.3% registration advantage) and promoting slick lawyer Michael Roberson. One would think Joyce would be a goner in this type of environment, but she has a few trump cards to play here. Dems have a far better field operation than the GOP, Joyce has a good reputation as a “grassroots person” and a long time teacher, and Roberson has what may be the ugliest skeleton to hide in the closet this campaign cycle (he’s worked on kicking homeowners out of foreclosed homes). This won’t be easy, but Woodhouse most certainly has a path to victory here.

    Perhaps this is a sneak preview of more to come… 😉

  8. Staying close to home, Patten is my state representative, from Ohio’s 18th house district.  This is a race that is going to be extremely close and could very well determine whether the Ohio House flips to the GOP or not.  

    Patten is a cordial, likeable guy that has voted for some key democratic agenda items, such as education funding, restructuring of the state tax code (to be more straightforward and progressive in nature), and supporting infrastructure programs.  He has done some really positive things here in my hometown of Strongsville as well, and does a good job of connecting with people right here in the “Crossroads of the Nation”.  

    This is one race that in addition to all the national contests, that I will be watching very closely on election night.

  9. In WV a big question for the future is the politics of the Eastern Panhandle, the part of the state that’s been growing by leaps and bounds. Can Democrats take advantage of changing demographics in this area? District 55 could give us a sense of that. Veteran right-wing Republican John Overington is being challenged by a really appealing candidate, Donn Marshall. If Marshall unseats Overington in the fastest growing part of the state, that would be a great sign that the gloom and doom some Democrats espouse when they talk about the future of WV politics is misplaced. And beyond that Marshall would be a vast improvement over the area’s current representation, and an appealing voice for the party.

  10. I did a thorough review of every state house seat in the state, which you can find here: Seats 1-40, Seats 41-80, Seats 81-125.

    If there is just one in the entire state to which I could direct help, it would KS-91 and the campaign of Dan Manning. Not only would the Kansas Lege get a smart, young, Mandarin-speaking military vet/West Point grad replacing a homophobic, hard-right ultraconservative, but it would get its first openly-gay legislator. Plus, the 91st district, in suburban Wichita, closely mirrors the state’s partisan composition (though it’s actually a point or two more Democratic than the state as a whole), and thus swingy and totally, totally winnable. Manning’s also managed to mobilize tons of volunteers–even getting a dozen teenagers from the Dodge City High Gay-Straight Alliance to drive 3 hours (each way!) to help him canvass in Wichita. I bet you don’t see that a lot for state house races.

    Plus, the dude got an actual death threat taped to the door of his home. I’m guessing you don’t know see that a lot, either, and it’s pretty unprecedented in Kansas. But the best part was his response, which was basically: thanks for the motivation to work even harder to win. So the guy’s got balls of steel. And if there’s one thing I think we can all agree that the entire Democratic Party needs more of, it’s candidates with balls of steel…you know, like Hillary Clinton.

    And if we can’t win this type of suburban swing district with a strong candidate over a hard-right conservative, then the Democrats might as well concede the entire state. And I know you’re looking at redistricting, too: If we knock out enough conservatives, even if Brownback wins the governor’s seat, he won’t be able to push through a redistricting plan over his own party’s moderates, since they have an interest in not making seats too conservative.  

  11. Since everyone is talking about favorite local races, I’ll add one of my own — Indiana State Senate District 31.  This is a rare opportunity for us to go on the offensive Indiana, and while we’re the underdog in this race, it is very winnable.

    The district is an urban/suburban one, comprising Lawrence and much of the east side of Indianapolis.  The 20 year Republican incumbent is Jim Merritt.  He’s about as “generic R” as they come (i.e. by Indiana Republican standards, he’s not a complete lunatic), which means he’ll be difficult to beat in a bad year for us.  But, it’s a competitive race for a couple of reasons.  First, the district has changed.  It’s become more urban, Lawrence in paricular has had a lot of middle-class African Americans move in, and just in general has moved in a Democratic direction.

    The other reason it’s a competitive race is our candidate — Marion County/Indianapolis Sheriff Frank Anderson.  He’s the first Democratic sheriff we’ve had here in a long time, and the first African American ever.  It actually is a step down in many respects for him to run for the State Senate, but he was term limited out of running  for sheriff again.  Despite some difficulties during his tenure (rising crime in parts of the county, a city/county merger of the police and sheriff’s departments, etc), he remains personally quite popular.

    Right now, the Indiana Senate is 33-17 Republican — and most of the really nutty, wacky stuff in Indiana politics comes out of the Republican Senate Caucus — so while we’re not going to come close to taking the Senate back, at least this would be one more sane, reasoned, experienced voice in it.

  12. takes place next year.

    I think the absolute #1 priority focus for this year 2010 should be on maintaining majorities (or gaining majorities where we’re close) in those states where the legislatures perform the Congressional re-redistricting. Really to the exclusion of almost every other consideration when allocating your resources, because we’ll be stuck with those results for 10 years.

    (The census just would have had to happen in a GOP wave year. Ugh.)

    So for example, the story today that some NY State Senators like Aubertine & Foley are in polling trouble. Those should be Essential Races.

  13. happy that the race I’m working on myself is already on the list. Kendall Van Dyk is a great candidate, a rising star in the Montana State House, and we need to make sure he knocks off failed 2008 gubernatorial candidate Roy Brown out of his Billings-area State Senate district. Van Dyk already represents half of the district in the State House, so it’s almost an incumbent vs. incumbent race.

    Oh, talking about MT SD-25, if anyone didn’t know.  

  14. I’ve written about the race over at DailyKos.  This is key because the Republican running in this open seat in Sacramento is Andy Pugno, who’s better known (and despised among progressives) for being the lead lawyer who defended Prop. 8.  Now he wants to be a state legislator.

    Interestingly, his website doesn’t mention a THING about gay marriage, or his extensive work on behalf of homophobic bigots.

    The Democrat y’all should support is Dr. Richard Pan, a Professor of Pediatrics at UC Davis.  They had a poll showing they could actually win the race, if the people could actually hear Pan’s message.  So some money to help him get the word out about who he is, and about how bigoted Pugno is, could go a long way.

    We need to pick up 6 Assembly seats to get a 2/3s majority.  That will be crucial if we’re to get anything done, as California has a beyond stupid rule that budgets need a 2/3s majority to pass, which has allowed a tiny minority of Republicans to hold our budget hostage every year until they get all the spending cuts they want to slowly strangle the state to death.

  15. I worry a little, because I see few races of some chambers what I see rated as Toss-Up:

    NH state senate (2)

    ME state senate (1)

    WI state senate (0)

    NY state senate (1)

    NC state senate (1)

    AL state senate (0)

    AK state senate (0)

    CO state house (1)

    IA state house (2)

    NH state house (0)

    WI state house (0)

    AL state house (0)

    While I see more in proportion about the chambers what I see rated as Leans Republican:

    PA state house (2)

    OH state house (2)

    IN state house (3)

    MT state house (1)

    AK state house (0)

    I see too some races in chambers rated as Likely Republican or Safe Republican:

    MI state senate (1) LiR

    KY state senate (1) LiR

    MT state senate (1) LiR

    TN state house (2) LiR

    TX state house (2) LiR

    MO state house (1) SR

    I understand the DLCC include one or two key races in some safer chamber (Leans Democratic or Likely Democratic) for keep the control, but I would wish see more districts of the chambers rated as Toss-Up.

    As example I think they are five key districts in the New York senate this year. SD-40 (included), SD-58, SD-48, SD-03 and SD-49.

    I would select too some races for both chambers in Wisconsin, because the gubernatorial race is in risk too and the republicans can take full control of the redistricting like in Pennsylvania, Ohio or Alabama.

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