This week, Daily Kos is rolling out a series of gubernatorial endorsements. Yesterday, Markos
outlined just how important these races are.
Every one of these candidates we can get elected will be an incumbent running for re-election in 2018, with all the advantages that entails. And the damage we can undo by winning these races and having a seat at the redistricting table is huge. How huge? If the states of Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin apportioned their congressional districts in a 50-50 fashion, that would net Democrats 19-20 seats, enough to retake the majority. And we don't need to control the complete redistricting machine. A seat at the table could mean either a compromise map, or a judge getting to write the lines. And either way, Democrats win.
Up today: Michigan, which we'll take back with Democrat Mark Schauer. In 2012, President Obama took the state (one of Mitt Romney's many home states, this one with the right height of trees) by 9.5 points. Ten frigging points in this blue state. So why is their current governor
this guy?
After a day when thousands of demonstrators swarmed the Capitol and legislators had an impassioned debate on the floor of a lame-duck House of Representatives, Gov. Rick Snyder signed two bills that made Michigan a right-to-work state.
(That came just months after Snyder
said right-to-work was "very divisive" and "not on my agenda.") Snyder's greatest hits also includes
signing "a controversial package of abortion restrictions that will limit abortion access for women who live in rural areas … and enact unnecessary, complicated rules for abortion clinics and providers." And
working to "smooth the path for a high-polluting industrial plant that wants to release even more toxic air emissions." And don't forget Snyder's
$1 billion in cuts to public education.
Snyder is in the governor's seat in Michigan because of the nation's collective freakout of 2010. Today we're endorsing Rep. Mark Schauer, a victim of that freakout, losing his congressional seat to Tim Walberg. Schauer, a former Michigan state senator, was recognized back home in his one term in Congress for his strong support of the Affordable Care Act and for fighting to hold a major polluter responsible for "the largest oil spill ever to strike the Midwest." In the interim, Schauer has worked back home in Michigan against the Snyder regime, getting pepper sprayed in the protests against the right-to-work law.
Schauer is great on every issue that matters, you can see that in this great interview he gave to Eclectablog. In the polling on this race, Snyder is consistently under 50 percent, with slipping approvals, and Schauer is in striking distance, within a range of 3 points to 10 points down, making this one more than viable. We don't have to convince you how critical this one is. It's Michigan.
Give $3 today to help get Michigan in the solid blue column in 2014 and beyond.
