With candidate filing now closed in 28 states (as per the SSP election calender)it is time to pause, take a deep breath, and have a look at how both parties are traveling vis a vis candidate recruitment for the House of Representatives.
Below the fold for all the details and hey go check out the 2010 Race Tracker Wiki over at Open Congress for all your House, Senate and Gubernatorial needs.
State No of CD’s D R
Alabama 7CD 4 7
Arkansas 4CD 4 4
California 53CD 51 52
Idaho 2CD 2 2
Illinois 19CD 19 18
Indiana 9CD 9 9
Iowa 5CD 5 5
Kentucky 6CD 6 6
Maine 2CD 2 2
Mississippi 4CD 4 4
Missouri 9CD 8 9
Montana 1CD 1 1
Nebraska 3CD 3 3
Nevada 3CD 3 3
New Jersey 13CD 13 13
New Mexico 3CD 3 3
North Carolina 13CD 13 13
North Dakota 1CD 1 1
Ohio 18CD 18 18
Oregon 5CD 5 5
Pennsylvania 19CD 18 18
South Carolina 6CD 6 6
South Dakota 1CD 1 1
Tennessee 9CD 9 9
Texas 32CD 26 32
Utah 3CD 3 3
Virginia 11CD Parties can nominate candidates until May 15th
West Virginia 3CD 3 3
TOTAL 316 302 313
So the GOP are contesting 11 more House districts than us.
In 2006 We contested 425 and in 2008 421. This year we will be lucky to get to 410. As for the GOP they are well on the way to contesting 430 or so; which would be a record.
What a shame.
So there you go.
Shame? Who cares that’s no shame. Just because the GOP are contesting some 300 odd districts dosen’t mean they win EVERY SINGLE ONE. Yes there are alot of good candidates running but atleast half are consists of the generic “Some Dude” candidate that would be luckey to get 30-40 percent of the vote in certain CD’s.
Not every district is competitive, some will never will. They can contest just like how we can contest certain CD’s that dosen’t mean well have any chance in hell of winning.
Same goes with them.
Race tracker wiki doesn’t say anything about a Republican running against Donald Payne.
Also it’s too bad that once again we weren’t able to get a top shelf challenger in NJ-02. That district is D+1.
would be a list of the uncontested districts along with the PVI to see if anyone seriously fell down on the job.
We’ve contested all thirteen districts the past two elections, but that streak is in jeopardy right now. We only have challengers in two of the seven Republican districts (the 7th and 10th). Our candidate in the 9th dropped out.
To the other commenters who say this isn’t a big deal:
Being able to run a candidate in every district is a part of being a national party, and of taking the Democratic agenda to all Americans. This is an embarrassment, in the same way that it was an embarrassment to the GOP when they fell behind in 2006 and 2008.
But if you’d rather look at it in terms of practical politics:
– The best defense is a good offense. Yeah, cliche, whatever. But all of these unopposed GOP incumbents are raising money and spending money– just not in their districts. Without even token competition, they don’t even have to bother going home this summer. They can spend the whole campaign season travelling to other districts where they can campaign with vulnerable Republicans and contribute money to the NRCC and other candidates.
Even a no-name no-money organic chicken farmer can hold the competition (and their money) in the district. When we don’t run even “Some Dude,” we’re hurting Democrats in competitive races.
– Down-ticket impact. Believe it or not, there’s more on the ballot than House and Senate seats. The state legislative races are probably the most important races this cycle with redistricting coming up, and if we’re not running a full slate at the federal level, we’re definitely not running a full slate at that level.
But even if we are, those state legislative candidates and county commission candidates and city council candidates benefit from having at least “Some Dude” above them on the ticket. Voting (R) in one race is a gateway to voting (R) in other races, especially for lower-information voters.