Candidate: Tammy Baldwin
Position: U.S. Senate (Wisconsin)
Race Status: Sen. Baldwin is seeking a second term and the race is rated on the cusp between Lean and Likely Democratic.[i]
 
Tammy Baldwin has made history many times throughout her career despite notoriously saying in her victory speech in 2012, “I didn’t run to make history. I ran to make a difference!”
 
Baldwin was the first woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Wisconsin, and then the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Wisconsin. She was also the first openly gay person elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and then the first openly gay person elected to the U.S. Senate.
 
In her two decades in Congress, Baldwin has been a fierce progressive. While in the U.S. House she consistently introduced single-payer healthcare proposals, and signed onto legislation to impeach then Vice President Dick Cheney for his fabrication and manipulation of evidence regarding Iraq.
 
In the Senate she’s been a great advocate on immigration reform and protecting immigrants, and she’s also been one of the most vocal opponents of the GOP budget and tax plan.
 
Wisconsin doesn’t hold its primary until August 14, so her opponent is not yet known. However, Koch affiliates have already spent millions of dollars working to defeat her.
 
Click here to view her campaign website and be sure to check her out on social media – @TammyBaldwin on Twitter and www.facebook.com/tammybaldwin. If you’re able to support her financially with a donation of $20.18 (or another amount) you can contribute by clicking here, or via her website. Her website also has information on how to volunteer with her campaign.


[i]  From Wikipedia: Several sites and individuals publish predictions of competitive races. These predictions look at factors such as the strength of the incumbent (if the incumbent is running for re-election), the strength of the candidates, and the partisan leanings of the Congressional District (reflected in part by the district's Cook Partisan Voting Index rating). The predictions assign ratings to each seat, with the rating indicating the predicted advantage that a party has in winning that seat.
Most election predictors use:

• "tossup": no advantage
• "tilt" (used sometimes): advantage that is not quite as strong as "lean"
• "lean": slight advantage
• "likely" or "favored": significant but surmountable advantage
• "safe" or "solid": near-certain chance of victory. 

 

Candidate: Lucy McBath
Position: Georgia’s 6th Congressional District
Race Status: Seat currently held by Karen Handel (R), and is rated on the cusp between Lean and Likely Republican[1]
 
Georgia’s sixth congressional district drew national media attention in the first half of 2017, when Congressman Tom Price was tapped to become the Secretary of Health and Human Services. His confirmation to that post and resignation from Congress triggered a special election. Karen Handel defeated Democrat Jon Ossoff by fewer than four percentage points in the most expensive congressional race in American history.
 
Handel, a former senior vice president at Susan G. Komen for the Cure, sought to eliminate funding from the organization to Planned Parenthood for political reasons. That decision was quickly reversed, and Handel left Komen to reenter the political arena.
 
According to her biography, Lucy McBath’s “passion for public service was awakened by her family’s tragedy in 2012. She is the mother of Jordan Davis, who was shot and killed at a gas station in Jacksonville, Fla. that year by a man objecting to the music he was playing in his car. The shooter used Florida’s stand-your-ground law as his defense. He was not found guilty of murder in his first trial. In an October 2014 retrial, the shooter was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.”
 
McBath previously served as the national spokesperson for both Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. She was a campaign surrogate for Hillary Clinton in 2016 as part of the “Mothers of the Movement.”
 
She wrote a powerful essay for Vanity Fair earlier this year about her run for Congress. In addition to being a fierce advocate for gun safety, she has progressive plans on a wide range of issues including healthcare, education, immigration and DACA, environmental protections, and LGBTQ rights. She faces a runoff election this Tuesday, July 24, and the winner of that contest will face Handel in November.
 
Click here to view her campaign website and be sure to check her out on social media – LucyWins2018. If you’re able to support her financially with a donation of $20.18 (or another amount) you can contribute by clicking here, or via her website. Her website also has information on how to volunteer with her campaign.


[1] From Wikipedia: Several sites and individuals publish predictions of competitive races. These predictions look at factors such as the strength of the incumbent (if the incumbent is running for re-election), the strength of the candidates, and the partisan leanings of the Congressional District (reflected in part by the district's Cook Partisan Voting Index rating). The predictions assign ratings to each seat, with the rating indicating the predicted advantage that a party has in winning that seat.
Most election predictors use:

• "tossup": no advantage
• "tilt" (used sometimes): advantage that is not quite as strong as "lean"
• "lean": slight advantage
• "likely" or "favored": significant but surmountable advantage
• "safe" or "solid": near-certain chance of victory. 

November 6, 2018. That date needs to be highlighted, marked, and starred on your calendar. That is the date of the upcoming midterm elections and they will be critical to putting a check on this administration’s authoritarianism as well as the entire Republican Party who supports it.
 
We have just over 100 days—about 16 weeks and a little less than four months. If you’re like me, you may feel overwhelmed by the news and the daunting task of ensuring Democrats take back control of both chambers of Congress and win other key statewide victories. It’s crucial that we all do our part in whatever way we can. That means donating money if you can. Volunteering with candidates and organizations if you can—especially canvassing and phone banking.
 
But, it’s also important to acknowledge you can’t do everything by yourself. Pick a favorite candidate or a handful if you have time. Decide what you can contribute either monetarily or volunteer wise (or both if you’re able) and then make that commitment. A little bit can go a long way when everyone comes together to do a small part.
 
Each week, from now until Election Day, I will be sharing with you candidates and organizations that I think are worthy of your time and attention. They are candidates I fully endorse and support and candidates that are critical to Democratic success in November.
 
I hope that at least one of these candidates or organizations will inspire you to chip in your time, money, and/or efforts. There are 18 candidates I will share over the coming months. They range from incumbent U.S. Senators up for re-election, to gubernatorial candidates taking on uber conservative incumbents, to local candidates in my home state of Alabama.
 
One of the reasons I’m a proud Democrat is because I value diversity. I think America is stronger when we are inclusive and when everyone has a seat at the table. That’s why this list is over 60 percent female, and a third of the candidates included are LGBTQ.
 
The first organization I want to share with you is the Alabama Democratic Victory Fund, which is a project of the House Democratic Caucus Campaign Fund. The House Democratic Caucus agenda is, “To strengthen our state with good jobs, strong schools, and healthy communities.” This organization is working to elect more Democrats to the Alabama legislature where Republicans currently have a supermajority in both chambers.
 
Check out their website (https://www.demvictoryfund.com/) and donate and/or volunteer if you can.
 
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