The netroots / blogosphere has picked its favorites, be they Rick Noriega or Darcy Burner or Scott Kleeb. (All three of whom are great candidates.)
In this diary, I wanted to spread the love a bit to a few candidates that don't get mentioned much, or at all. Please help me in this task.
Oftentimes moderate Democrats running in Republican districts, who don't and can't hew to the hard left like we might like, lose out in the online popularity contests. But at the end of the day, their one vote will count for just as much, and will each be replacing the vote of a bad GOP legislator.
In this diary I detail 5 house candidates and 5 senate candidates that are worthy of your donations - even $5 - via ActBlue at this link. Even better, sign up for a recurring contribution - it helps ensure the candidates a steady financial situation.
So first, I should preface this with this disclaimer: I don't work for any of these campaigns, don't live in their districts, or otherwise have any personal ties to them.
I've picked 5 house races in which I think the Democrat can win in a Republican district, and in almost every case the Republican incumbent is absolutely horrible and needs to be defeated.
The 5 senate races are more well known, just by virtue of the fact that there aren't that many senate races out there.
Let's get started with the 5 forgotten house candidates.
- Nick Leibham. Nick is running in this North San Diego county district against the corrupt incumbent Brian Bilbray (who is a former Washington lobbyist and beneficiary of none other than Jack Abramoff). Nick was high school teacher (he taught government and U.S. history) and criminal prosecutor for the County of San Diego. Donate $5 now.
- Debbie Cook. Debbie is running in this quintessential Republican district that includes large parts of Orange County. After running a business for many years, Debbie led community efforts to stop out-of-control development that was hurting the local environment. She's served on the city council and as mayor of Huntington Beach for the last 8 years. Donate $5 now.
- Becky Greenwald. Becky is running in central / northern Iowa against Tom Latham (who won as part of Gingrich's 1994 sweep) but is now facing a serious challenge due to redistricting. Becky is a businesswoman who has been working in local Iowan agriculture businesses for decades. Donate $5 now.
- Betsy Markey. Betsy is running in Eastern Colorado, bordering Wyoming, Nebraska, and Kansas. After starting and building up her own tech business and in other businesses, Betsy has taken her executive experience to work for Sen. Ken Salazar as one of his regional directors. Donate $5 now.
- Steve Sarvi. Steve is running in South-East Minnesota in a very winnable district. Steve is an Iraq war veteran and has served in the national guard for almost 2 decades. He also served as Mayor of Watertown, MN for 5 years from 2000-2005 until he was called up for duty in Iraq. Donate $5 now.
The 5 senate candidates are next, but since they're more well known, I'm not going to go into detail on them.
- Mark Begich. Mark served as mayor of Anchorage and is running against the horrible Ted "Internet is a series of tubes/bridge to nowhere" Stevens. Donate $5 now.
- Jeff Merkley. Jeff was speaker of the Oregon house and is running against Gordon Smith. (Smith is hiding his Republican-ness by running ads trying to pretend to be supported by Barack Obama, who obviously supports Merkley and not Smith). Donate $5 now.
- Kay Hagan. Kay is running against incumbent Dole and stands a good shot of turning NC blue with a strong ground game from her forces and Obama's forces. Donate $5 now.
- Tom Allen. Tom is running to inseat incumbent Collins in what should be a good race in a year that Maine is poised to go Blue. Donate $5 now.
- Bruce Lunsford. Bruce is running to unseat the terrible Mitch McConnell and can use all the help he can get. Donate $5 now.