It seems like all of us here at the Big Orange are preoccupied with the upcoming midterm elections on November 2nd and the prospects of retaining control of the U.S. House and U.S. Senate for the last two years of President Obama's first two terms. My wife and I are among them, as we've donated to both Mark Schauer's in MI-07 and Gary Peters in MI-09, two of the seats in Michigan that the GOP has targeted for takeover this fall. We've also both volunteered our time to Gary Peters' campaign delivering lawn signs to increase our representative's visibility.
Unfortunately, all that work might come to nothing in 2012 if we fail to think ahead and act locally. In all 50 states, the next legislative session will take up the thorny issue of redistricting. This means that state legislators will play a crucial role in redrawing the districts of the U.S. Representatives we are working so hard to re-elect.
So, what can progressives do to elect state legislators that will draw districts that will help the progressive cause in the 2012 election and beyond? Follow over the jump to see how you can give progressive candidates a Progressive Kick!
Progressive Kick is a project to support progressive candidates in lower profile state-wide races and state legislative races in five states, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, and Pennsylvania, where redisticting will be a major issue and where the candidates are in close but winnable races. The major donors to Progressive Kick have pledged up to $125,000 to these candidates and will use it to match contributions made through their Act Blue Page, which is called Win Big by Thinking Small. That's potentially $250,000 to inject into critical local races!
So, what criteria did Progressive Kick use to pick the races and candidates?
I'll let Goldy at Horse's Ass, who is helping to coordinate the effort, speak.
The criteria for being included in the Win Big by Thinking Small program were simple: you must be a truly progressive candidate in a close but winnable race, in a state where congressional redistricting is at stake... and it’s that latter prerequisite that, despite my pleading, excluded Washington legislative candidates from consideration. For even if control of the state House and/or Senate were to change hands, our nonpartisan redistricting system makes the process almost entirely immune to partisan gerrymandering. Yet another thing Washington does better than most other states.
But that’s not the case most everyplace else. And that’s why a relatively small investment in electing progressive legislators now, could produce exponential returns over the coming decade:
"The average winner of a competitive House race in 2008 spent $2 million, while a noncompetitive seat can be defended for far less than half that amount. Moving, say, 20 districts from competitive to out-of-reach could save a party $100 million or more over the course of a decade."
— GOP strategist, Karl Rove
Don’t trust Karl Rove? Read the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee’s dissertation on "The Economic$ of Redi$tricting," and The New York Times on "How to Tilt an Election Through Redistricting."
That criterion "in a state where congressional redistricting is at stake" is why Michigan has been included. Michigan is likely to lose a congressional district, which means that the composition of the state legislature could determine whether someone like Schauer or Peters loses his district or whether someone like Thaddeus McCotter (MI-11) does instead. I'd much rather have McCotter lose his district than one of our fine Democratic representatives.
How were the candidates selected?
Time to let Progressive Kick speak.
We’ve vetted our candidates very carefully, consulting with multiple experts in each state, to assure that only genuine progressives made our list. Both polling data and experienced, local election observers agree that each of these races is close but winnable, and that control of Congressional redistricting in their state is at stake. (For example, candidates in states with nonpartisan redistricting processes were not eligible.)
All of our candidates are progressive leaders with real backbones... unlike some Democratic members of Congress who we’ll have to hold our noses to vote for in order to keep a majority. And many of our candidates on this page will be the progressive Congressional candidates of the future.
That last point bears repeating. Time for Goldy at Horse's Ass again.
Of course, electing true progressives at the local level is also the key to building a progressive bench — these are the ranks from which future Democratic stars will rise — so this alone makes Progressive Kick’s matching contribution program worthy of your support. But with redistricting upon us, and our nation as divided as ever along partisan lines, nothing less than control of the U.S. House of Representatives is at stake.
So if you’re looking to double your money and double your impact, please give today.
Not only will we be protecting our candidates and working to minimize the impact of the opposition, we will be cultivating our future legislative leaders. Bonus!
Who are these candidates?
In Michigan, they are Jocelyn Benson for Secretary of State, Christine Green for State House District 52, Art Reyes for State House District 51, and Dian Slavens for State House District 21.
In North Carolina, they are Patsy Keever for State House District 115, Josh Stein for State Senate District 16, Rick Glazer in State House District 45, and Jennifer Weiss for State House District 35.
In Ohio, they are Maryellen O'Shaughnessy for Secretary of State, David Robinson for State House District 21, and Linda Secrest for State House District 93.
In Oregon, they are Will Rasmussen for State House District 37, Doug Ainge for State House District 30, Dan Rayfield for State Senate District 8, Nick Kahl for State House District 49, and Susan Sokol Blosser for State House District 24.
In Pennsylvania, they are Rick Taylor for State House District 151, Frank Bovalino for State House District 15, and Mark Painter for State House District 146.
Finally, what can we do?
The project goes until either October 28th or the full $125,000 is raised from contributors to the Win Big by Thinking Small Act Blue page. Right now, Progressive Kick is less than $19,000 away from its goal, as $106,214 has been raised, $5,000 just in the past two days alone. Please contribute so that these fine progressive candidates can get the matching money as soon as possible!