Take a look at the
50 State Page as we move up to 423 districts with candidates and 5 unopposed Republican districts. Oh yeh and I have added in the latest House District Polls and am adding incumbent websites.
Below the fold for the skinny...............
For those who are impatient yes we have a candidate in NY 3 and yes the filing deadline for write ins passed on May 23rd without a candidate in CA 42. In any other year we would see filling 52 districts in California as a fantastic achievement but like many others I am disappointed that CA 42 has passed unfilled. I am more than disappointed in the Virginia Dems as it is more than likely that we won't have candidates in the 4th or 6th but nonetheless here is the state of play:
1) 423 Races filled!
This includes 3 Unconfirmed Candidates:
- AZ 6 - Glenn Fuller -
When his website is up and running or he files with the Arizona SOS I will put him as confirmed.
- NY 3 - Dave Mejias - When a website is up and running or he files with the New York Elections Board or the NY Dem party nominates him I will put him as confirmed.
- VA 7 - Martin Dudziak - Martin has a website and apparently is out and about campaigning but the 7th District nominating convention voted not to endorse any candidate (yet). My guess is Dudziak will be endorsed unless someone better comes along but with the Virginia Dems anything is possible, unfortunately. When the Virginia party give him the nod he becomes confirmed.
2) There are now only 12 unopposed Republican incumbents including 5 where there won't be a Democrat on the ballot:
AL 6 - Congressional District Map
CA 42 - Congressional District Map.
FL 12 - Congressional District Map
MS 3 - Congressional District Map
TX 11 - Congressional District Map
The other 7 districts are:
LA 4 - Congressional District Map. There is currently no rumored candidate.
LA 5 - Congressional District Map. There is currently no rumored candidate.
LA 6 - Congressional District Map. There is currently no rumored candidate.
LA 7 - Congressional District Map. There has been the odd blog mention of 1996 nominee Hunter Lundy stepping up. A best a huge longshot as he has said nothing to confirm that he is even thinking about running.
OK 1 - Congressional District Map. There is currently no rumored candidate. I have emailed the OK Dem party asking if there any potential candidates and will no doubt get a response soon.
VA 4 - Congressional District Map. There is currently no rumored candidate and it looks like the 4th VA Dems have given up. VA Dems have until June 13th to find a candidate.
VA 6 - Congressional District Map. There is currently no rumored candidate and the 6th CD district convention was held on Saturday without a candidate being endorsed. VA Dems have until June 13th to find a candidate. To be fair they had a potential starter who opted not to run two days before the nominating convention.
423 filled races is a filing record BTW and a fantastic effort all round.
In concluding I would like to put a few thoughts on the record about the Virginia Democratic Party and the Virginia Lefty Blogsphere.
A number of people (myself included) have posted quite a few comments on Kos and MyDD that are quite critical of the gang over there in Virginia and in particular their singular focus on the Senate Primary between Webb and Miller (Webb supporter myself). And if you take a look at Raising Kaine or Not Larry Sabato they have attempted to refute the criticisms by pointing out that less than half their last 100 (Kaine) or 150 (Sabato) posts have been about the Senate race. Fair enough too. I respect their right to post about whatever they like and I think they are both great sites. BUT
Not ONE diary between them about the 4th or 6th not fucking one. No candidate in either district and not one story or call to arms. Raising Kaine in particular spent more time talking about why Blanton SHOULDN'T be endorsed in the 7th (I agree) than on the 4th and 6th races combined.
Sorry guys I just think that is terribly poor form.
As for the Virginia Democratic party they are disgraceful. I have sent 5 emails in the last month about the 4th and 6th districts, all congenial and polite, and got ONE response which was just the email addresses of the two district chairs - Gee thanks. I emailed the 2 district chairs and one bounced back as the email address is no longer in use and got no reply to the other.
The 4th District web page doesn't work nor does the 6th District Young Dems website. The 6th Dems website works but is shit and is a different address from the link on the VA Dems webpage. Most of the county Dems websites in the 2 districts are either down or haven't been updated since 2004. This is simply not good enough which is why I think the Virginia Democratic Party is the worst state branch in the USA. As for the blogs I must admit I am embarrassed that one 30 something year old Australian (me) can easily take more of an interest in these two races from the other side of the world than local bloggers do themselves.
It's a real pity because we (and I count myself as part of the we) have done so astonishingly well in finding candidates in every other state (Louisiana watch this space)!!!