The importance of winning back the U.S. Senate cannot be overstated.
TobyRocksSoHard’s earlier recommended call to action hits home in fine detail many of the reasons why we need a Democratic majority in the Senate and why our nation would benefit from Democratic-run Senate. As Laura Clawson points out in a related front-page story, Republicans understand the ramifications of the Senate leadership changing hands, which is why they’re going deep into debt trying to buy their hold on the upper chamber of Congress. Most recently, David Jarman highlighted the three states most likely to decide which party controls the Senate.
I just donated via ActBlue to the Upgrade the Senate effort to support Deborah Ross, Katie McGinty, Jason Kander, Catherine Cortez Masto, and Maggie Hassan—all great candidates and all well-known names with reliable support from our community. We need to do all we can to support these and other competitive Democratic Senate races to ensure that, as Toby’s story headline reads, President Hillary Clinton “can have one of the most productive and consequential first terms ever.”
But what of the underdogs? The new kids? The Spielbergs and Kubricks? (H/T X Ambassadors for those refs.) As the good people at 90for90.org have listed, a number of unsung heroes are stepping up to the plate in Red States to challenge their Republican opponents and give them a reason to fight harder for their “safe” seats.
Take Ron Crumpton of Alabama. After he had to cease his landscaping business due to a disability, he became a passionate patient’s rights advocate and activist. He’s running against Senator Richard Shelby on a platform that includes investing in education and infrastructure, ending for-profit prisons, raising the minimum wage, and rebuilding our nation’s social safety net.
There’s also Caroline Fayard of Louisiana. At only 38 years old, she’s the only woman and by far the youngest in the race to fill the open Senate seat being vacated by Republican Senator of diapers fame David Vitter. She’s earned endorsements by Senator Mary Landrieu and the Louisiana Democrats for Education Reform, and is running on a platform that includes education and relief of student debt as well as energy security, infrastructure rebuilding, and putting Louisianans back to work.
And Eliot Glassheim of North Dakota. He’s running to unseat Republican Senator John Hoeven. A Grand Forks City Councilman in the late 1990s, Glassheim put pressure on his colleagues to take swift action following the 1997 Red River Flood. The Bismarck Tribune highlights his goals of...
...making sure Social Security was available for future generations, increasing minimum wages, making community college free for those who couldn’t afford it, lowering student loan burdens, improving deteriorating infrastructure and helping women earn equal pay.
“It’s 2016, and it’s about time women were treated equally,” he said, drawing cheers from the crowd.
Witness Misty K. Snow of Utah, a traditionally very red state that is groundbreaking in that a new poll has independent candidate Evan McMullin beating both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Beating U.S. Senator Mike Lee is a long shot, but Misty Snow breaks even more ground—and makes history—being the first-ever transgender nominee of a major party to run for the U.S. Senate.
Then there’s Jay Williams. “South Dakota’s ultimate underdog,” as writer Stu Whitney of USA Today’s Argus Leader calls him, Williams is working to beat sitting Republican Senator John Thune. Williams is a software developer and Vietnam Veteran whose key issues are fighting income inequality and addressing climate change, and also advocating for Native Americans in South Dakota.
Patty Judge of Iowa is a farmer and former Attorney General and Lieutenant Governor, so she’s no newcomer to politics. Yet in a race that favors Republican Senator Chuck Grassley by a large margin, Judge isn’t afraid of standing toe-to-toe with the incumbent on some tough questions. While everyone else in America was watching another heated debate taking place in Las Vegas, Judge called Grassley to the carpet in their own debate over his role in the Supreme Court obstruction that’s been taking place since, oh, February.
Let’s not forget Jim Gray of Kentucky. Having once served as the first openly gay mayor of Lexington, Gray is vying for Rand Paul’s seat in a deep-red state. According to the Washington Blade, Gray would, if elected, be “first openly gay statewide candidate elected in the region that has lagged behind in LGBT rights.” As Senator, he will focus on rebuilding and revitalizing Kentucky’s economy and infrastructure, and also working on preserving Social Security and Medicare.
And that’s not all. Thomas Dixon of South Carolina. Patrick Wiesner of Kansas. Ray Metcalfe of Alaska. Conner Eldridge of Arkansas. Jim Barksdale of Georgia. The Democratic voting advocacy group 90for90 lists a number of Senate candidates running the fights of their lives in tough states, and scores of Democrats in other races whose names you might not have heard, but still need support.
You might think that getting behind a candidate in a “safe” Republican state or district is a fool’s errand. However, by supporting political newcomers, we build our bench and force Republicans to spend money in states and places that they normally weren’t planning on doing.
Our Democratic underdogs may have a long shot in their uphill battles of epic proportions against well-backed Republican candidates and incumbents. As I heard a Democratic friend once remark years ago, Democrats are David and their Republican opponents are Goliath.
“Remember who won,” she finished.
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90for90 supports Democrats at all levels of elected office, from the President all the way down the ballot—Democratic candidates for county sheriffs, party chairs, county commissioners, and labor commissioners are featured with links to their campaign Web sites, donation pages, and (if applicable) social-media pages.
