On even-numbered years the seat of every congressional district is up for grabs. Of course mostly these races end up in the favor of the incumbent, a trend we hope to buck in a few places this year. OpenSecrets shows that in 2016, there was a 97% re-election rate. In 2006, a year Democrats reclaimed the House, the country still returned 94% of incumbents back to office, so you see doesn’t take much to make big changes.
These guys and gals usually settle in for the long stretch once initially elected. I do not support term limits because it takes a while for anyone to become proficient in a job. If I approve of my Representative, I don’t have a reason to oust them. We complain about the system, but as we grumble about I am fortunate that I happen to like the Congress People I’ve had over my adult life. I would be hard-pressed to find much space between my values and that as represented by my current House Member, Pramila Jayapal. She has greatly impressed me in what I hope is her first of many terms. You might have caught her on Chris Hayes’ “All In” the other night...Or here. Jayapal is 3rd in a row of progressive Democrats that I’ve lived under in my years in WA-07 (Seattle).
I thought that this string of blue stretched back even further, all the way back to when I first became a sentient human being - about 2nd grade. Until earlier this week I had thought that I had always been in a Democratic district. I remember as a child in the ‘60’s that we had Julia Butler Hansen to represent us in DC from our district on the coast. The fact that she was one of the few women in national politics made an impression on me.
I was thinking about this last Tuesday. I knew I also had a Democratic Rep. in college, but I couldn’t quite remember his name (I blame the ‘70’s) so I checked it out
But…I also discovered in the search that when I moved here to Seattle there had been a glitch in the liberal matrix…a Republican snuck into office in a special May 1977 election!! Democrat Brock Adams had resigned earlier to become new President Jimmy Carter’s Secretary of Transportation. I moved to the district at the end of that year.
I was a bit chagrined by the fact that I wasn’t paying attention. I guess arriving to a new city out of school and looking for a job preoccupied my thoughts. The district voted him out in 1978. All’s well that ends well.
I am fortunate that my values are reflected by the majority of people in my area. I know that’s not often the case, and that wasn’t in my consciousness when I chose to move here...we thought about several other places. It’s worked out fairly well. The traffic sucks but I lucked out as to representation.
Who is your Representative? Do you love’m, hate’m...or “meh”?
RSVPS
1. idlemoments, organizer (kosmail him to connect)
2. 2wontanabe
3. Thutmose V
4. Audrey
Maybees:
slapshoe
RickNelsonmn
StellaRay
ndmdmn
bluesophie
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Netroots Nation 2018
RSVPS
1. Neeta Lind, organizer (kosmail her to connect)
2. Bill in Portland Maine
3. Common Sense Mainer
4. Meteor Blades
5. vicki
6. markm667
7. belinda ridgewood
8. paradise50
9. smileycreek
10. side pocket
11. Mrs. side pocket
12. annrose
13. Spedwybabs
14. ericlewis0
15. shanikka
16. Crashing Vor
17. cv lurking gf
18. brillig
19. mik,
20. K1 (aka thatkid)
21. K2
22. loggersbrat
23. Richard Cranium
24. Jeff Singer
25. BeninSC
26. KathyinSC
27. mommyof3
28. Chris Reeves
29. DrLori
30. Will Johnson
31. Carolyn Fiddler
32. Irna Landrum
33. Drew Linzer
34. Jen Hayden
35. peregrine kate
36. Michael Langenmayr
37. Paul Hogarth
38. Rachel Colyer
39. Wagatwe Wanjuki
40. Kelly Macias
41. ramara
42. Will Rockafellow
43. Jessica Sutherland
44. Rory Morris
45. Laura Clawson
46. Arjun Jaikumar
47. Rachel Sinderbrand
48. Wes Williamson
49. Kimm Lett
50. Huiying Chan
51. Joan McCarter
52. Candelaria Vargas
53. Stephen Wolf
54. Gabe Ortiz
55. Steven Howard
56. Jessica Sutherland
57. Jonaya Leek
58. Rebecca Buckwalter-Poza
59. chigh
60. chigh2
61. Mark E. Anderson
62. Marian Piekarczyk
63.
MAYBEES :
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