Hi all long time no diary.
I have been seriously impressed with how quickly and determinedly Democrats have picked themselves up off the floor after the disastrous 2016 election to oppose and resist the Trump Presidency and all that means for the USA. The awful Trump Care vote is going to gin up our enthusiasm even more so. As it must.
A great indicator of that enthusiasm has been the number of Democrats who have stepped up to the plate and nominated to run for Congress in 2018.
But how well are we travelling in finding Dems to step up?
Well let’s take a look see…………..
Assuming that all currently held Dem Districts have candidates in 2018 (well of course they will) we start from a base of 194, which includes the currently open CA-34 which will feature two Dems in the run off in June. Also let’s assume that we either win the 3 special elections in Repub Districts or that candidates will step up, or step up again in 2018.
So let’s move on to the 241 Repub held districts.
At this stage in the 2008 and 2010 cycles (and remember 2008 was a good year for Team Blue, just a little) we had about 40 Repub Districts with confirmed Democratic candidates — yep that’s all. I don’t have data for 2006 alas.
And this year??? 126 Republicans currently have confirmed Democratic Party candidates. 126! In early May 2017! And rising!
This is so much more than in recent previous cycles as to need no further explanation or qualification. Seriously.
126 Districts with confirmed Democratic candidates
AL-06 R+26
AZ-02 R+1
AZ-06 R+9
AZ-08 R+13
AR-04 R+17
CA-01 R+11
CA-04 R+10
CA-08 R+9
CA-10 EVEN
CA-22 R+8
CA-23 R+14
CA-25 EVEN
CA-39 EVEN
CA-42 R+9
CA-45 R+3
CA-48 R+4
CA-49 R+1
CA-50 R+11
CO-04 R+13
CO-06 D+2
FL-02 R+18
FL-03 R+9
FL-04 R+17
FL-12 R+8
FL-15 R+6
FL-16 R+7
FL-17 R+13
FL-25 R+4
FL-27 D+5
GA-01 R+9
GA-06 R+8
GA-07 R+9
GA-08 R+15
GA-10 R+15
GA-11 R+17
ID-01 R+21
IL-06 R+2
IL-12 R+5
IL-13 R+3
IL-14 R+5
IL-15 R+21
IL-16 R+8
IN-02 R+11
IN-04 R+17
IN-08 R+15
IA-01 D+1
IA-03 R+1
IA-04 R+11
KS-02 R+10
KS-03 R+4
KY-04 R+18
MD-01 R+14
MI-01 R+9
MI-02 R+9
MI-06 R+4
MI-08 R+4
MI-11 R+4
MN-03 D+1
MS-01 R+16
MO-04 R+17
MO-06 R+16
MT-AL R+11
NJ-04 R+8
NJ-07 R+3
NJ-11 R+3
NM-02 R+6
NY-01 R+5
NY-11 R+3
NY-19 R+2
NY-21 R+4
NC-05 R+10
NC-09 R+8
NC-13 R+6
OH-01 R+5
OH-02 R+9
OH-04 R+14
OH-05 R+11
OH-10 R+4
OH-12 R+7
OH-14 R+5
OH-15 R+7
OH-16 R+8
OK-05 R+10
OR-02 R+11
PA-03 R+11
PA-06 R+2
PA-07 R+1
PA-09 R+19
PA-10 R+16
PA-11 R+10
PA-12 R+11
SC-03 R+19
SC-05 R+9
SD-AL R+14
TN-03 R+18
TN-04 R+20
TN-07 R+20
TX-02 R+11
TX-04 R+28
TX-05 R+16
TX-06 R+9
TX-07 R+7
TX-10 R+9
TX-11 R+32
TX-12 R+18
TX-19 R+27
TX-21 R+10
TX-24 R+9
TX-25 R+11
TX-26 R+18
TX-31 R+10
TX-32 R+5
TX-36 R+26
UT-02 R+16
UT-03 R+25
UT-04 R+13
VA-01 R+8
VA-05 R+6
VA-07 R+6
VA-10 D+1
WA-03 R+4
WA-05 R+8
WA-08 EVEN
WI-01 R+5
WI-05 R+13
WI-06 R+8
14 Districts with rumoured/considering Democratic candidates
The following 14 districts have rumoured or considering Democratic candidates. If past cycles are any way to judge most of these candidates will ultimately run.
FL-08 R+11
FL-11 R+15
FL-18 R+5
IN-05 R+9
IN-09 R+13
KY-06 R+9
ME-02 R+2
MN-02 R+2
NE-02 R+4
NV-02 R+7
NJ-03 R+2
TX-03 R+13
TX-23 R+1
TX-27 R+13
101 Districts with no Democratic candidate (yet)
The following 101 districts don’t yet have a Democratic candidate. Yet
AL-01 R+15
AL-02 R+16
AL-03 R+16
AL-04 R+30
AL-05 R+18
AK-AL R+9
AZ-04 R+21
AZ-05 R+15
AR-01 R+17
AR-02 R+7
AR-03 R+19
CA-21 D+5
CO-03 R+6
CO-05 R+14
FL-01 R+22
FL-06 R+7
FL-19 R+13
FL-26 D+6
GA-03 R+18
GA-09 R+31
GA-12 R+9
GA-14 R+27
ID-02 R+17
IL-18 R+15
IN-03 R+18
IN-06 R+18
KS-01 R+24
KS-04 R+15
KY-01 R+23
KY-02 R+19
KY-05 R+31
LA-01 R+24
LA-03 R+20
LA-04 R+19
LA-05 R+15
LA-06 R+19
MI-03 R+6
MI-04 R+10
MI-07 R+7
MI-10 R+13
MN-06 R+6
MS-03 R+13
MS-04 R+21
MO-02 R+8
MO-03 R+18
MO-07 R+23
MO-08 R+24
NE-01 R+11
NE-03 R+27
NJ-02 R+1
NY-02 R+3
NY-22 R+6
NY-23 R+6
NY-24 D+3
NY-27 R+11
NC-02 R+7
NC-03 R+12
NC-06 R+9
NC-07 R+9
NC-08 R+8
NC-10 R+12
NC-11 R+14
ND-AL R+16
OH-06 R+16
OH-07 R+12
OH-08 R+17
OK-01 R+17
OK-02 R+24
OK-03 R+27
OK-04 R+20
PA-04 R+11
PA-05 R+13
PA-08 R+2
PA-15 R+4
PA-16 R+5
PA-18 R+11
SC-01 R+10
SC-02 R+12
SC-04 R+15
SC-07 R+9
TN-01 R+28
TN-02 R+20
TN-06 R+24
TN-08 R+19
TX-01 R+25
TX-08 R+28
TX-13 R+33
TX-14 R+12
TX-17 R+12
TX-22 R+10
UT-01 R+26
VA-02 R+3
VA-06 R+13
VA-09 R+19
WA-04 R+13
WV-01 R+19
WV-02 R+17
WV-03 R+23
WI-07 R+8
WI-08 R+7
WY-AL R+25
Perennial laggards such as Texas and Ohio are doing very well this cycle too. Keep it up!
For clarity I use a combination of Politics1.com, The Green Papers, social media, the FEC and of course Google to confirm candidates as well as state elections department websites (where possible). Simply filing with the FEC is not enough to be confirmed either by the way.
We are off to a stunning start in finding candidates for 2018 — 320 Districts filled and counting.
It is so important to run candidates in as many districts as possible, not just to win (although that would be great) but to engage and build.
Additions, thoughts, questions etc in comments please.