Signal Boost: Push time for the Georgia 6th

[jducoeur]

(This one's not really part of the "Wartime Thoughts" series -- it's simpler old-fashioned politics.)

For those who haven't been following the aftershocks of November: there are a series of special elections happening around now, filling Congressional seats that are currently vacant due to, eg, Cabinet appointments. And they are getting terribly interesting.

A couple of days ago, the Republican running in the Kansas 4th managed to win his election -- by seven points. This is Kansas we're talking about here, mind. Nobody expected the Democratic candidate to win -- but the spread was 20 points, and the pre-election calculations were that if the Republicans won by anything less than 20, it was a Very Good Sign for Democratic prospects in 2018. A 7-point differential was closer than pretty much anybody's wildest dreams. (The day before, the members of 538's weekly podcast put their guesses at anywhere from a 9 to 16 point differential.)

Now, the Georgia 6th is a toss-up. Seriously: the Democrats have a solid shot of winning a House seat in Georgia.

Yes, it's just one seat, and it's not going to tip the scales in any immediate way. But much of politics is about momentum, and it's time to make clear to the Republican Congress just how unhappy the country is with them. They're not going to listen to us unless they start losing elections, so it's time to start making that happen.

So -- if you're down there, you might want to help with the get-out-the-vote effort. And if you're not, but want to support the project, you might consider donating a few bucks to the Ossoff campaign.

It's time to start scaring the snot out of the Republican Congress. This seems like a lovely step in that direction...

ETA: while I think of it, a NB -- this is a political campaign, and they will start sending you emails if you donate. There are unsubscribe links at the bottom of those, but don't be surprised. (This is why I'm fond of using burner email addresses for things like this.)

Comments

[laurion]

I'd add to this the special election in Montana. Like in Kansas, the DCCC has decided to sit this one out, but the Republican candidate is fresh off of a loss for governor, and is widely panned by the voters. So there's a real opportunity being let slip here. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rob-quist-a-montana-special-election-nobody-is-following-could-deal-a-huge-blow-to-trump_us_58e3fcc5e4b03a26a3670c30

[jducoeur]

Hadn't noticed that one yet, but yeah -- looks like it has potential. Here is the Flippable page on that one.

More generally, Flippable's page on priority elections is well worth bookmarking -- it's a curated list of upcoming elections, highlighting the ones that have real potential to flip and are worth particular support. (Yes, the Montana race is in the latter list of "national priority races".)

[laurion]

Oh, nice tool. Thanks for sharing it!

[metahacker]

Yeah, Flippable is great. Realistic and strategic. Hope the RNC continues to sleep on it.

The most important thing about Kansas

[drwex]

...is that now the Republicans cannot treat any seat they hold as "safe". They cannot focus solely on purple states and instead they must shore up their rear and flanks.

Trump took that district with something like 60% of the vote 5.5 months ago and now they are barely eking out a win after a large last-minute infusion of cash and Big Names. I expect them to continue winning most if not all of these suddenly contested seats but not by a lot and none of them are going to sleep easy at night as 2018 approaches.

I can't say I'm unhappy about that...