The Florida races are another example of Democratic voters throwing away their money on hopeless races. It's their money but would be put to far better use in winnable races.
Would love to see Andy Levin get back into the house whether it be in 10 or 11.
The Florida races are another example of Democratic voters throwing away their money on hopeless races. It's their money but would be put to far better use in winnable races.
Would love to see Andy Levin get back into the house whether it be in 10 or 11.
I'm unsure about that. I don't think the elements are there for a shock win a la Doug Jones in AL. However, they are there for an overperformance that may change the political conversation.
But then again, they're held on the same day as the WI Supreme Court race, which is a bigger deal.
absolutely the Wisconsin race is priority #1 because of the competitive nature, but to disregard Josh or Gay is not helpful imo (longshots actually win sometimes; i am a gambler, so i know the odds are against us here in Florida)
That's a real problem with Daily Kos. They constantly try to promote fundraising for candidates in R+20 districts which takes money away from winnable races.
I ran the candidate endorsement program there for more than a decade (and that program no longer exists following my departure). We were very strategic in our endorsements. Are you referring to folks in the community?
As a matter of transparency, on my articles on Daily Kos I have promoted and shared information on races Democrats didn't have on their radar or weren't going to win simply because I felt there needed to be more visibility. My agenda on DK with respect to covering the races was only mine and not me speaking on behalf of the DK staff. This applied to the MO-SEN and WV-SEN races.
On the other hand, in a discussion thread, Markos himself made an error on the MO-SEN race last year when he said to a DK member that there really wasn't a race. There was and the MO-SEN race ended up becoming lost by Democrats at close to the same margin as the FL-SEN and TX-SEN races.
Daily Kos didn't officially promote fundraising or otherwise contributing to races that looked hopeless, though they allowed users to do so in comments and diaries. Sometimes an initially unwinnable race eventually came to look competitive and it got more attention.
Some at Simon Rosenberg's Hopium Chronicles have complained about him not paying attention to the Florida specials, to which Simon responds that he doesn't want to waste Democrats' time and money promoting races that are almost certain to result in losses and disappointment--though he's open to changing his mind if they do look competitive. He's been heavily promoting getting involved in races such as the WI Supreme Court and VA-Gov that are clearly winnable.
as a i posted below; the Wisconsin race is #1, but we Democrats are able to walk and chew gum at the same time(i am not criticizing your post by the way)
My sentiments exactly. It's really hard to find a race Dems have lost in recent years due to a lack of money. And cash isn't fungible. Most donors are motivated by emotion. It's not realistic to expect every person giving $10 on ActBlue to do coldblooded research on how to maximize the effectiveness of their donations.
But what I will say is, these candidates offer a lesson! If you're running in a more competitive race and need money, try doing what the successful folks are doing!
The DNC and the various other parts of the Democratic Party need to identify best practices and implement them widely, adjusting them of course to specific local circumstances.
For starters, this means calls to all the candidates and campaigns that greatly performed тАУ and extensive conversations about what they did and how.
As far as I know, this is not being done. Certainly it wasnтАЩt done under DNC Chair Jaime Harrison. (I havenтАЩt heard of anything that Harrison did after the 2024 election! Seems he was just passing the time, waiting for his successor.)
I am, however, very hopeful about Ken Martin. As new DNC Chair, he has clearly hit the ground running!
I give Jaime Harrison credit for one thing - He made improvements over Tim Kaine and Debbie Wasserman-Shultz's time as DNC Chair back when President Obama was in office. The 2022 midterms ended up being better for Democrats than back in 2010 and 2022.
That said, Harrison didn't do enough and we now have Ken Martin to replace him so we have change. I agree on Martin's progress so far as DNC Chair.
You sure those are hopeless races in this environment? Those two Iowa specials looked hopeless on paper, and we flipped one and nearly flipped the other.
I would like to see Democrats win at local and state elections in FL. Putting the energy and resources more into high profile races like the gubernatorial and senate races isn't giving the FL Democratic Party enough stream.
The Florida races are another example of Democratic voters throwing away their money on hopeless races. It's their money but would be put to far better use in winnable races.
Would love to see Andy Levin get back into the house whether it be in 10 or 11.
i beg to differ
disagree about Florida; agree about Levin
I'm unsure about that. I don't think the elements are there for a shock win a la Doug Jones in AL. However, they are there for an overperformance that may change the political conversation.
But then again, they're held on the same day as the WI Supreme Court race, which is a bigger deal.
absolutely the Wisconsin race is priority #1 because of the competitive nature, but to disregard Josh or Gay is not helpful imo (longshots actually win sometimes; i am a gambler, so i know the odds are against us here in Florida)
That's a real problem with Daily Kos. They constantly try to promote fundraising for candidates in R+20 districts which takes money away from winnable races.
I ran the candidate endorsement program there for more than a decade (and that program no longer exists following my departure). We were very strategic in our endorsements. Are you referring to folks in the community?
I remember well the endorsements by DK Elections. They always seemed thoughtful and very reasonable тАУ winnable races.
Usually it was the candidates themselves passing the hat for money on the site. They were almost all candidates who were running in lost cause races.
As a matter of transparency, on my articles on Daily Kos I have promoted and shared information on races Democrats didn't have on their radar or weren't going to win simply because I felt there needed to be more visibility. My agenda on DK with respect to covering the races was only mine and not me speaking on behalf of the DK staff. This applied to the MO-SEN and WV-SEN races.
On the other hand, in a discussion thread, Markos himself made an error on the MO-SEN race last year when he said to a DK member that there really wasn't a race. There was and the MO-SEN race ended up becoming lost by Democrats at close to the same margin as the FL-SEN and TX-SEN races.
https://ballotpedia.org/United_States_Senate_election_in_Florida,_2024
https://ballotpedia.org/United_States_Senate_election_in_Missouri,_2024
https://ballotpedia.org/United_States_Senate_election_in_Texas,_2024
Yes, or users working for said campaigns.
Daily Kos didn't officially promote fundraising or otherwise contributing to races that looked hopeless, though they allowed users to do so in comments and diaries. Sometimes an initially unwinnable race eventually came to look competitive and it got more attention.
Some at Simon Rosenberg's Hopium Chronicles have complained about him not paying attention to the Florida specials, to which Simon responds that he doesn't want to waste Democrats' time and money promoting races that are almost certain to result in losses and disappointment--though he's open to changing his mind if they do look competitive. He's been heavily promoting getting involved in races such as the WI Supreme Court and VA-Gov that are clearly winnable.
as a i posted below; the Wisconsin race is #1, but we Democrats are able to walk and chew gum at the same time(i am not criticizing your post by the way)
these specials are taking money from no other races though; show me one race not being funded and i will change my mind
My sentiments exactly. It's really hard to find a race Dems have lost in recent years due to a lack of money. And cash isn't fungible. Most donors are motivated by emotion. It's not realistic to expect every person giving $10 on ActBlue to do coldblooded research on how to maximize the effectiveness of their donations.
But what I will say is, these candidates offer a lesson! If you're running in a more competitive race and need money, try doing what the successful folks are doing!
The DNC and the various other parts of the Democratic Party need to identify best practices and implement them widely, adjusting them of course to specific local circumstances.
For starters, this means calls to all the candidates and campaigns that greatly performed тАУ and extensive conversations about what they did and how.
As far as I know, this is not being done. Certainly it wasnтАЩt done under DNC Chair Jaime Harrison. (I havenтАЩt heard of anything that Harrison did after the 2024 election! Seems he was just passing the time, waiting for his successor.)
I am, however, very hopeful about Ken Martin. As new DNC Chair, he has clearly hit the ground running!
I give Jaime Harrison credit for one thing - He made improvements over Tim Kaine and Debbie Wasserman-Shultz's time as DNC Chair back when President Obama was in office. The 2022 midterms ended up being better for Democrats than back in 2010 and 2022.
That said, Harrison didn't do enough and we now have Ken Martin to replace him so we have change. I agree on Martin's progress so far as DNC Chair.
You sure those are hopeless races in this environment? Those two Iowa specials looked hopeless on paper, and we flipped one and nearly flipped the other.
as an activist, here in Florida, on the ground, thank you for your post; my county actually matters this time(for once)
Maybe not quite, but it would be shocking, especially in Alabama, I mean the Panhandle.
I would like to see Democrats win at local and state elections in FL. Putting the energy and resources more into high profile races like the gubernatorial and senate races isn't giving the FL Democratic Party enough stream.