Open Thread: Comebacks

The Hill has a piece today about possible comeback attempts from defeated Democratic incumbents. Given the sheer volume of defeats, we’re bound to see some of these people return to office in some form or another, while others will quietly fade into obscurity. So let’s canvass your opinion: Are there any candidates — incumbents and challengers alike — who lost in 2010 (or 2008, for that matter) that you’d like to see try again for another office in the not-too-distant future? It could be the same seat they lost, or it could be something else. Let’s hear your ideas!

250 thoughts on “Open Thread: Comebacks”

  3. Pennsylvania

    Depending on how they Gerrymander I could see

    Chris Carney and Patrick Murphy running again

    New York

    Scott Murphy

    John Hall

    Mike McMahon

  4. Steve Driehaus: While he still lost, he outperformed expectations, and could be up for a third round against Chabot.

    Melissa Bean: I’d be surprised if she didn’t, especially if the district is redrawn to be more dem-friendly

    Brad Ellsworth: His old House seat is his if he wants it

    Joe Sestak: See above. IDK if he’d be interested, though

    Patrick Murphy: I hate to see him go. I’ve heard him floated as a candidate for AG, as well as for a tiebreaker against Fitzpatrick

    Alan Grayson: As much as I wish that he would just go away, I doubt he will. I bet there’s a new Dem seat created in Orlando that he runs for

    Dan Maffei: If he loses, it will have been a fluke. He can easily win his seat back in 2012

    John Hall: While not an upset on the level of Maffei’s loss, I think he’d have at least a 50/50 chance in a rematch

    Cary Kennedy: She’s not a member of congress, but her loss hit me hard. I think she’s still a rising star in the Colorado Democratic Party, and there’s no way she’s done

    Andrew Romanoff: He’s way too talented to just fade away, and I would be floored if he doesn’t run for something else. The AG’s office is gonna be open in 2014, and he’s working on his law degree…

  7. lost narrowly and should try again in a more favorable year, depending on the new district lines.

    Iowa Secretary of State Michael Mauro did a fantastic job, and I would hate to see him leave public service. Terry Branstad has talked about possibly offering him some kind of state job–don’t know what that would be.

    She wasn’t an incumbent, but Republican attorney general candidate Brenna Findley will run for office again in Iowa someday, I’m sure of that.

  8. Former Congresswoman may really want another try. And it sounds like many of you want Dina Titus to try again…

    But again, I’m wondering if she can withstand all the jockeying in Carson City over what will likely be a new Dem leaning NV-04 seat. Will the likes of John Oceguera and Barbara Buckley step aside so Dina can give it another try? I have my doubts.

  9. Since the Democratic bench was decimated in the U.P. and in Northern Michigan, and McDowell ran a stronger campaign then I expected, he should run again in 2012, especially in Republicans don’t do the obvious thing and tack Traverse City back into the district. With higher presidential-year turnout in Alpena and Marquette, and a little softening of Benisheik’s numbers in the Western U.P. (where all Democrats performed piss-poor this year), this could be a real pick-up opportunity for us.

    Miles and Schauer both underperformed polls this year, but since most polls missed the Republican wave in the House, I don’t see any reason why Democrats would be better off nominating anyone else for those seats again. Personally, I’d rather see Schauer go back into the non-profit private sector for a few years and either make a run for Governor in 2014 or Senate if Carl Levin retires that year. It’d be good to have a Senator or Governor from southwest-south central Michigan, especially as Democrats need to build a bench in those areas for future races since Republicans currently dominate the state house and senate scene in those areas.

    MI-06 (home), MI-02 (college)

  10. This is a very good topic. Taking into account what redistricting may do some people here is a list of who I think we have not seen the last of are the following in no particular order.

    1. Patrick Murphy – Rubber match with Fitzpatrick?

    2. Tom Perriello – as a former volunteer canvasser and a VA resident I hope that we haven’t the last of him. My hope is that we see him run for AG in 2013 to clean up Cooch’s “legacy”.

    3. Joe Sestak – I see a run for Governor in 2014 or a rematch with Toomey in 2016 on the horizon. He is too ambitious to go back to the House I think.

    4. Ron Klein – see #1.

    5. Alan Grayson – massive ego won’t allow him to sit on the sidelines. Using Andrew Breitbart tactics is nice for certain segments but to a general election and to me it is disgraceful.

    6. Frank Kravitol – new district will be Dem friendly most likely. His challenge will be surviving the Democratic primary as he has a lot of targets for any good fundraising opponent to hit at.

    7. John Boccierri/Steve Dreihaus – good young candidates but how will their new districts look in Ohio?

    8. John Salazar – perfect fit for his district and I think that Obama will likely carry Colorado. He may lose his district but the increased Latino turnout will help Salazar.

    9. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin – she could give Noem a rematch in 2012.

    10. NY Reps – seems like Hall, Maffei and Bishop would all be decent bets if they ran again.

    11. Bill Foster/Melissa Bean – Dem trifecta will create favorable terrain for them to comeback. Possibly other comebacks in IL as well?

    12. Mark Schauer – Wahlberg needs a very safe district and in a neutral climate he won’t survive most likely.

    Some losing challengers I’d like to see again:

    1. Annie Kuster

    2. Ami Bera

    3. John Callahan

    4. Manon Trivedi

    5. Denny Heck

  11. But, he said he’s done with politics… or campaigning at least.  It’s a shame, ‘cos there is no way they could redraw that seat to make it safe GOP with Strickland on the ballot.

  12. Not that I’d like them all to:

    1. Annie Kuster

    2. Russ Feingold

    3. Chris Carney

    4. Ron Klein

    5. Mark Schauer

    6. Ami Bera

    7. Manan Trivedi, esp. if Gerlach runs for Sen  

  13. There were only two GOP House members who were defeated, neither of whom has even a slim chance of winning again, but there are still some Republican candidates who I wouldn’t mind seeing again.

    Ilario Pantano

    Benjamin Lange (assuming it’s Latham v. Boswell)

    Mike Keown

    Jackie Walorski

    Peter Corrigan

    Matthew Doheny

    Of course, it’s a different dynamic for the GOP. The Dems will be in better shape in the House in 2012. But there were a lot of districts that the GOP could put into play in 2012 because they were neglected and because of redistricting. We probably won’t be able to reach the more liberal districts where we lost, but unseating Democrats in red/swing districts like Joe Donnelly or Mike McIntyre? Definitely a possibility.

  14. It’s premature, but still worth looking at seats that we can probably be taking back.  I think a lot of Dem friendly seats fell this November thanks to the wave, not the least being in New Hampshire and Minnesota (Oberstar :/ ).  In a neutral year I figure a pickup of 8-10 is not unreasonable at all, and if there’s good economic recovery and that recovery is attributed to Obama and opposed by the GOP, a pickup in the low to even mid 20s (mid 20s being the breaking point for control of the House) is not out of the question as a modest wave or even a blowback wave like this one was supposedly for the Democrats.  

  15. 1) Carol Shea-Porter. She could (easily) take back her old seat in ’12 if Guinta seriously messes up.

    2) Stephanie Herseth Sandlin. She should wait until 2014, when/if Sen. Tim Johnson retires. Then she could move up, a la Blanche Lincoln in the late ’90s.

    3) John Hall. Could he be “the one” two years from now in a presidential year?

    4) Phil Hare (IL-17). I really hated to see him lose. How he lost to some pizzeria owner is beyond me. Perhaps he was caught napping? And I still can’t see how he lost his own home county.

  16. Yes, yes, I know, Presidential politics are off-topic for this site, but there’s no way to talk about 2012 without including Obama as a big factor.  That’s just the way a Presidential year is, especially with an incumbent running for reelection with the potential for strong coattails.

    And along those lines, check this out:

    http://www.publicpolicypolling…

    It’s a stunner.  His job approval 50-45, and he leads all tested comers……not that it matters too much, at 50-45 job approval with a 78% white electorate he’d carry the state against anyone.  In reality the 2008 exit poll had Virginia at just 70% white, with Obama losing white voters 60-39 and still winning 53% of all votes.

    If Obama is this strong, then that should carry Webb or any competent Democratic alternative over the finish line in the Senate race, and help us in U.S. House races if we can find competent candidates in redrawn districts.

  17. …since very few of them are going to be running in the exact same seat.  For example upstate NY congressional seats where at least one seat up there will be eliminated and a “protect all incumbents” map may very well appear.

  18. I think the thing everyone is missing here is that all of the candidates I’m seeing named as comebacks are from states like OH, PA, NY and MI whose districts are going to be chopped all to hell in a year or so. This is especially true given that the GOP controls everything in 3 of those states and NY will lose 2 seats with split control. So a lot of these candidates are going to be looking at districts that look nothing like the ones in which they just lost, so right now I’m not sure we can remotely guess who would be a good re-run candidate.

  19. She did better against Reichart than Burner did in 2008!  That’s despite a good year for Republicans both nationally and within Washington state.

  21. Tom Perriello!- He defied pretty much everyone expectations this year and two years ago (Perriello was probably the biggest surprise on Election Night 2008). I’m a bit worried about him ruining his career by getting thrashed in a Senate run, but we should probably have a little more faith in him at this point.

    Felecia Rotellini- She’s the Arizona Attorney General candidate who only lost by four points when every other statewide candidate was getting blown out of the water by double digits. I get the impression that she doesn’t have any political goals besides Attorney General, but whether it’s that race in 2014 or something else, I’d love to see her bring her passion and intelligence to another race.

    Annie Kuster- Speaking of intelligent, passionate campaigns, Annie Kuster ran one of the best house campaigns of the cycle and only lost because New Hampshire was such a black hole for Democrats. She’ll probably be back in 2012, and she’ll probably win.

  22. http://www.politico.com/news/s…

    RNC political director Gentry Collins left yesterday.  In his resignation letter, he wrote a scathing indictment of the RNC’s malfeasance, debt, and having to scale back greatly on GOTV due to financial woes.

    This is the key gem from said resignation letter:

    “In the previous two non-presidential cycles, the RNC carried over $4.8 million and $3.1 million respectively in cash reserve balances into the presidential cycles,” Collins writes, underlining his words for emphasis. “In stark contrast, we enter the 2012 presidential cycle with 100% of the RNC’s $15 million in lines of credit tapped out, and unpaid bills likely to add millions to that debt.”

    Yet, after all of this, Steele wants to re-up.  Not that I’m complaining, but is he really that egotistical?

  23. AL – Joshua Segall, who ran a surprisingly close race against Mike Rogers in ’08 – although I’m pretty sure that the AL-03 will be drawn to be more safe for Republicans

    AK – Scott McAdams (Governor in ’14 or Young’s at-large seat)

    AZ – Ann Kirkpatrick – perhaps a statewide run?;

    AR – Bill Halter (how is his electability statewide?); Paul Suskie

    CA – Ami Bera, Steve Pougnet, Nick Liebham, Beth Krom; and Bill Hedrick

    CO – John Salazar, Betsy Markey, and Andrew Romanoff

    FL – Alex Sink (especially in Bill Nelson opts to retire); Ron Klein; Joe Garcia; (I’m also curious about Suzanne Kosmas – will she have a future given the new map and the new rules for redistricting?)

    GA – Jim Marshall (perhaps a gubernatorial or senatorial run?)

    HI – should Akaka retire – Ed Case or Mufi Hannemann

    ID – maybe gubernatorial candidate Keith Allred can try his luck at ID-01?

    IL – Dan Hynes, David Hoffman, Bill Foster, Debbie Halvorson, Julie Hamos

    IN – Joe Donnelly for Senate? (in the event his district is cracked)

    IA – Michael Mauro

    KS – Stephen Six; Raj Goyle

    ME – Eliot Cutler (a formidable candidate to fill in the vacuum that maybe caused by Olympia Snowe getting eliminated in a primary)

    MD – Frank Kratovil

    MA – Capuano for Senate? Although I hold hope that Elizabeth Warren would make a run for it 🙂

    MI – Gary McDowell; Jocelyn Benson

    MN – Tarryl Clark; (also Don Ness vs Chip Cravaack ’12?)

    MO – Tommy Sowers (this guy has a bright future I think); Judy Baker

    NH – Ann Kuster (definitely); Deb Pignatelli; (do any of you think Carol Shea-Porter can run for her old seat again against Frank Guinta?)

    NJ – Ed Potosnak

    NM – Mary Herrera

    NY – John Hall, Scott Murphy (and Dan Maffei and Tim Bishop, in case they lose); was Mike Arcuri not really that popular to begin with?

    OH – Charlie Wilson, John Boccieri, Mary Jo Kilroy, Richard Cordray, Steve Driehaus, and Paul Hackett (I know, not of the past two cycles – but I cringe at the thought of another decade of Jean Schmidt)

    OK – Drew Edmondson

    PA – Joe Sestak (I hope he runs for his old seat again); Patrick Murphy; Chris Carney; John Callahan; Doug Pike

    SC – Vincent Sheheen (maybe a run for the House? which district does he live in?); Rob Miller (statewide in the future); I also loved Linda Ketner

    SD – Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (governor in ’14?)

    TX – Ciro Rodriguez; Bill White; Jeff Weems; Mike Skelly; Jack McDonald

    UT – Peter Corroon

    VA – TOM PERRIELLO! :); Glenn Nye perhaps?; do any of you think Steve Shannon can be elected to Congress?

    WA – Suzan DelBene; Craig Pridemore

    WV – Anne Barth

    WI – Russ Feingold; I just love Tom Barrett; Julie Lassa; Steve Kagen

    WY – Gary Trauner (for governor in 2014); PS – what’s the odds that Dave Freudenthal can be convinced to run for Senate against Barrasso?

    Those are my thoughts…

    26, Progressive Dem, gay male, CA-38

  27. Jon Barela came close in NM01 this year. Could be a sleeper candidate for a Senate race assuming he keeps his name rec up over the next couple of years.

    Ryan Frazier from CO07 seems like he still has a good political future ahead of him. I’d like to see him run for State Senate or the like for the time being.

    I’d like to see Brian Rooney primary Tim Walberg in MI07. Seriously, central Michigan Republicans, what are you thinking???

    Jackie Wolarski could be back if Donnelly’s home is thrown into IN01.

    Keith Rothfus in PA04 did a lot better than expected, and if Altmire’s district is weakened in redistricting he’d be a good candidate for 2012.

    Betty Gooch barely lost the primary in NJ06, and Frank Pallone struggled to put away the less electable Republican who defeated Gooch. She could try again, depending on redistricting.

    Matt Doheny got screwed by Doug Hoffman in NY23.

    Otherwise, if a Republican lost this year, he or she shouldn’t run again because 2010 was a once-in-a-generation cycle.  

  29. 2012:

    B Dorgan for Governor of North Dakota. This would be one of my biggest recruiting efforts for 2012. J Dalrymple is not J Hoeven.

    D Maffei for NY-25

    C Titus for NV-03 or NV-04

    T Bishop for NY-01

    J Oberstar for MN-08

    A Kuster for NH-02

    P Murphy for PA-AG (or some D+ district if they are).

    S DelBene for WA-08

    F Kratovil for MD-01 (when becomes a D+5+ district).

    And maybe some from Illinois after a good redistricting.

    2014:

    B Richardson for governor of New Mexico. Yes I know, but the democrats from New Mexico need more latinos in the first level, and while they up, W Richardson is the alone solution.

    J Granholm for governor of Michigan. I’m not sure if she can. The same, maybe unpopular now, but I see not strong alternative.

    C Kennedy for CO-ST

    M Mauro for IA-SS

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