Dan Seals (D) is planning another run for Rep. Mark Kirk’s (R) seat in Congress. With Kirk running for Senate, Democrats believe they have a better shot this time around. Depending on whether party leaders get involved and back another candidate, it looks like Seals has an advantage in the primary. In a new poll, Seals dominates his Democratic challengers, receiving 63% of the vote. State Rep. Julie Hamos and attorney Elliot Richardson take 8% and 2%, respectively.
Archive for category Congressional Races
Freshman Rep. Tom Rooney (R) will face a challenge from St. Lucie County Commissioner Chris Craft (D) in next year’s election. This is Craft’s second time entering the race. Yesterday he posted and then deleted an announcement on his county commissioner reelection website. This is his statement today:
“I’m running for Congress because we need a Representative who has shared the struggles of hardworking Floridians and can relate to the people of this district,” Craft said in the release.
“If we are going to find solutions to our communities’ greatest problems, then we need an independent voice in Congress who won’t hesitate to question his party’s leadership and work with both Republicans and Democrats to get the job done.”
The NRCC quickly attacked Craft’s poor record in his current job.
The National Republican Campaign Committee jumped on the premature announcement Wednesday, and blamed Craft for the county’s fast-growing unemployment rate.
Earlier this week it looked like former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz (R) may run for Congress against Rep. Suzanne Kosmas (D). But Holtz has now backed away from that possibility.
Holtz, who met with Republican officials last week to discuss running against Rep. Suzanne Kosmas (D-Fla.), told South Bend TV station WNDU that he doesn’t plan on running for Congress.
“I’m working for ESPN. I don’t want to run for Congress,” Holtz told the station. “All I’m going to do is fulfill the commitment to ESPN.” He made the comments at a golf tournament in Michigan.
DCCC Hits 11 Districts
Aug 5
The DCCC announced today it will be launching robocalls in 11 GOP districts as part of its “Health Care ER” efforts.
The phone calls are heading to the following districts: Brian Bilbray (CA-50), Ken Calvert (CA-44), David Dreier (CA-26), Mario Diaz-Balart (FL-25), Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-09), Mike McCaul (TX-10), Frank Wolf (VA-10), Bill Young (FL-10), Judy Biggert (IL-13), Mary Bono Mack (CA-45), and Pete Sessions (TX-32).
The DCCC will begin airing radio ads next week in another eight districts.
Elwyn Tinklenberg (D), who lost his bid (by 3 points) to unseat Rep. Michele Bachmann last year, has decided against another run for the seat. Tinklenberg faced a tough primary race. The nomination will now likely go to state Sen. Tarryl Clark, who Democrats believe has a strong chance of winning the race.
“In a difficult district during tough financial times we will be spending large amounts of time and money trying to defeat each other rather than defeating Michele Bachmann,” Tinklenberg said in his statement. “That is not a campaign I want to wage nor is it the kind of campaign that strengthens our chances of electing a Democrat next fall.”
Wake up the echoes…
Yesterday, the Orlando Sentinel reported that famed Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz (R) met with NRCC officials to discuss a potential run for Congress against Rep. Suzanne Kosmas (D). The moderate 24th district is a good pick-up shot for the GOP. If he runs, Holtz’s name identification will make him a strong primary and general election contender.
Holtz would join an already-crowded GOP primary field that includes two state legislators and a Winter Park city commissioner. Still, the prospect of Holtz getting in has Republicans buzzing about his fundraising ability and aura of celebrity.
“You put him in the ring and it’s all but over,” said John Dowless, an Orlando-based Republican consultant. “He’s on TV, he’s likable, the name ID is huge and people respect him enormously.”
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“He has a Rolodex that people would dream of; people are going to flock to him,” Dowless said.
Holtz is far from the first person to try to translate sports success into a political victory. If he runs, this will be an interesting race. As an alumnus of Notre Dame, I’ll be providing regular updates.
NRCC Target List
Aug 3
Following the NRCC’s announcement last week that it planned to target 80 seats in 2010, the committee sent an email to friendly PACs with 70 districts to watch.
From:
To:
Sent: 7/31/2009 5:50:13 P.M. Eastern Standard Time
Subj: TARGET DISTRICTS FOR 2010
Hi friends, Below you will find a list of 70 districts that the NRCC is targeting this cycle. As Chairman Sessions stated earlier this week at a pen and pad briefing, “There are people proactively coming to us. We are doing far less recruiting and more catching.” With that said we have the opportunity to focus on many more districts and some unusual districts that haven’t been targeted in a long time. We are very excited about our prospects in 2010 and look forward to having your support! If you have questions about a particular district please shoot me a note.
Have a great weekend!
AL-02 Rep. Bobby Bright NM-01 Rep. Martin Heinrich
AL-05 Rep. Parker Griffith NM-02 Rep. Harry Teague
AR-01 Rep. Marion Berry NV-03 Rep. Dina Titus
AR-02 Rep. Vic Snyder NY-01 Rep. Tim Bishop
AR-04 Rep. Mike Ross NY-13 Rep. Mike McMahon
AZ-01 Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick NY-19 Rep. John Hall
AZ-05 Rep. Harry Mitchell NY-20 Scott Murphy
CA-11 Rep. Jerry McNerney NY-24 Rep. Mike Arcuri
CA-47 Rep. Sanchez, Lo. NY-25 Rep. Dan Maffei
CO-04 Rep. Betsy Markey NY-29 Rep. Eric Massa
CT-04 Rep. Jim Himes OH-01 Rep. Steve Driehaus
FL-08 Rep. Alan Grayson OH-15 Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy
FL-22 Rep. Ron Klein OH-16 Rep. John Boccieri
FL-24 Rep. Suzanne Kosmas OH-18 Rep. Zack Space
GA-12 Rep. John Barrow OK-02 Rep. Dan Boren
HI-01 Rep. Abercrombie OR-01 Rep. David Wu
IA-03 Rep. Leonard Boswell OR-04 Rep. Peter DeFazio
ID-01 Rep. Walt Minnick OR-05 Rep. Kurt Schrader
IL-11 Rep. Debbie Halvorson PA-03 Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper
IL-14 Rep. Bill Foster PA-04 Rep. Jason Altmire
IN-08 Rep. Brad Ellsworth PA-07 Rep. Joe Sestak
IN-09 Rep. Baron Hill PA-10 Rep. Chris Carney
KS-03 Rep. Dennis Moore PA-11 Rep. Paul Kanjorski
KY-06 Rep. Ben Chandler PA-12 Rep. Jack Murtha
LA-03 Rep. Charlie Melancon SD-AL Rep. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin
MD-01 Rep. Frank Kratovil TX-17 Rep. Chet Ewards
MI-07 Rep. Mark Schauer UT-02 Rep. Jim Matheson
MI-09 Rep. Gary Peters VA-02 Rep. Glenn Nye
MO-04 Rep. Ike Skelton VA-05 Rep. Tom Perriello
MS-01 Rep. Travis Childers VA-09 Rep. Rick Boucher
NC-08 Rep. Larry Kissell VA-11 Rep. Gerry Connolly
ND-AL Rep. Earl Pomeroy WI-03 Rep. Ron Kind
NH-01 Shea-Porter WI-07 Rep. Dave Obey
NH-02 Rep. Paul Hodes WI-08 Rep. Steve Kagen
NJ-03 Rep. John Adler WV-01 Rep. Alan Mollahan
GOP PACs lead in fundraising by nearly a two-to-one margin over Democratic PACs. In the first half of the year, Republicans raised more than $10 million. Democrats took in only $5.5 million during this same period. Eight of the top ten PACs during this time were Republican.
1. Romney’s Free and Strong America PAC — $1,924,375.
2. The conservative Democratic Blue Dog PAC — $1,106,887.
3. Every Republican Is Crucial, tied to Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va. — $855,879.
4. Senate Conservatives Fund, tied to Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C. — $797,071.
5. Palin’s SarahPAC — $732,868.
6. Freedom Project, tied to House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, R-Ohio — $725,499.
7. McCain’s Country First PAC — $523,483.
8. 21st Century Democrats — $452,816.
9. Republican Main Street Partnership PAC — $365,887.
10 Senate Majority Fund, tied Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz. — $358,214
Meanwhile, Newt Gingrich’s 527, American Solutions for Winning the Future, announced it raised $8.1 million so far this year.
During August recess, the DCCC plans to launch ads attacking House Republicans on healthcare reform.
The campaign is called “Health Care ER,” with the ER standing for “emergency response.” It targets more than two dozen GOP members — most of them being targets in 2010, but also some GOP leaders — and includes radio ads, live calls, e-mails and other organized grassroots activities.
All of it is aimed at driving home the idea that Republicans are holding up healthcare reform because they are beholden to insurance companies.
A new George Washington University Battleground Poll offers different results than the NPR poll on the generic ballot. GWU shows Democrats leading by a small margin.
The July 19 to 23 survey of 1,000 registered likely voters released Wednesday found that 43 percent of those surveyed said they would back the Democratic candidate for Congress in their districts, while 40 percent said they would support a Republican. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
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In addition, 41 percent of those surveyed said that preferred a divided government, where Congress is controlled by one party and another holds the White House, compared to 39 percent who favor a unified government.
Stimulus polling shows mixed results. It appears voters are prepared to wait for the package to work.
But on the economic stimulus package and other key initiatives, voters remained skeptical. Just 33 percent said the stimulus was working, while 61 percent said it was not. Still, 58 percent said it was “on track” and should be given a year to show results.