Yesterday, the DCCC announced a list of twenty-six “races to watch” as part of their “efforts to stay on offense this cycle.” The D-Trip has divided its list into two tiers, “Top Races” and “Emerging Races,” but hasn’t offered a description of the distinction between them. To wit, the list:
| District | PVI | Incumbent | Candidate | Tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AZ-03 | R+9 | Shadegg | John Hulburd | Top |
| CA-03 | R+6 | Lungren | Ami Bera | Top |
| CA-45 | R+3 | Bono Mack | Steve Pougnet | Top |
| DE-AL | D+7 | Open | John Carney | Top |
| FL-12 | R+6 | Open | Lori Edwards | Top |
| IL-10 | D+6 | Open | Primary | Top |
| KS-04 | R+14 | Open | Raj Goyle | Top |
| LA-02 | D+25 | Cao | Primary | Top |
| MN-06 | R+7 | Bachmann | Primary | Top |
| NE-02 | R+6 | Terry | Tom White | Top |
| OH-12 | D+1 | Tiberi | Paula Brooks | Top |
| PA-06 | D+4 | Gerlach | Primary | Top |
| PA-07 | D+3 | Open | Bryan Lentz | Top |
| PA-15 | D+2 | Dent | John Callahan | Top |
| SC-02 | R+9 | Wilson | Rob Miller | Top |
| TN-08 | R+6 | Open | Roy Herron | Top |
| WA-08 | D+3 | Reichert | Suzan Delbene | Top |
| AK-AL | R+13 | Young | Harry Crawford | Emerging |
| AL-03 | R+9 | Rogers | Josh Segall | Emerging |
| CA-44 | R+6 | Calvert | Bill Hedrick | Emerging |
| FL-10 | R+1 | Young | Charlie Justice | Emerging |
| FL-16 | R+5 | Rooney | Chris Craft | Emerging |
| IL-13 | R+1 | Biggert | Scott Harper | Emerging |
| MN-03 | R+0 | Paulsen | Primary | Emerging |
| MO-08 | R+15 | Emerson | Tommy Sowers | Emerging |
| TX-32 | R+8 | Sessions | Grier Raggio | Emerging |
I’ll note that two of these seats, though, are currently blue. That’s obviously not part of our “offense,” and to me, it sends a bad message to leave off all the other vulnerable Dem-held open seats. Anyhow, it’s nice to see this list, I suppose, but there’s no doubt we’ll be playing vastly more defense than offense this cycle.