Steve Cohen

TN-09 (Map)

A social progressive with solid experience in Tennessee’s state legislature, Steve Cohen sneaked past a crowded field of conservative, moderate, and Memphis machine politicians to win the seat in 2006.
He faces a stiff, well-funded challenge from the right, in the Democratic primary. Old-style pols seem to feel they own the seats in the southern delegation. Let’s not gve this one back to them.
Update: Supporters of the challenger are circulating a flyer that says Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen and the Jews HATE JESUS. We can’t let hate-mongering, slander, and thinly-disguised racism oust a progressive congressman from a set he won fair and square. Send him some cash, to fight this scurrilous attack.

Raised on this page: 5 100
Raised across ActBlue: 400 5,842

Andrew Rice

OK-Sen (Map)

State Senator Andrew Rice takes on GOP incumbent James Inhofe, widely regarded as one of the most conservative voices in the Senate.
Andrew won his blue-safe urban state senate seat with endorsements from the Sierra Club, Democracy for America, 21st Century Democrats, and the AFL-CIO. Cherished issues for Andrew include protecting privacy and civil rights, public education, and affordable health care. A married father of one, Andrew has a Master’s in Divinity from Harvard, and won the 2006 primary with wide support from Oklahoma City’s gay community.
I supported Andrew’s campaign in 2006 even though
I live far from his district.
He is able to run for higher office without putting his state senate seat in danger – it’s not up again until 2010.
Andrew is the type of young Democrat that I want to see rise to the forefront in the Democratic Party.
The main prop of the anti-science wing of the Republican Party, Andrew’s opponent, Senator Inhofe has been quoted as saying that global warming is “the second-largest hoax ever played on the American people, after the separation of church and state.”
Update: Any fear that a young candidate in a Red state was just cannon fodder against an incumbent has been put to rest. Andrew raised $310,000 in his first fund-raising quarter. Republican pundits laughed off this challenge at first, but they’re not laughing now.

Raised on this page: 6 789
Raised across ActBlue: 2,695 125,901

Martin Heinrich

NM-01 (Map)

Running for the open seat being vacated by wingnut Republican Congressvarmint Heather Wilson, Councilman Heinrich is a well-established office holder in the district’s population center and is raising good money.
Key issues for Martin: bringing our troops home from Iraq as soon as possible and making sure our returning soldiers receive the quality health care and benefits they deserve;
and what he calls “an Apollo Project for energy independence, moving America toward renewable energy sources: “No accomplishment would be a more valuable legacy for our children.”

Raised on this page: 3 80
Raised across ActBlue: 1,105 173,535

Larry Kissell

NC-08 (Map)

Grassroots favorite Larry Kissell nearly unseated the entrenched incumbent, Robin Hayes in 2006. Hayes survived a precarious recount by fewer than 300 votes.
Larry challenges Hayes again in 2008. He’s lost the advantage of surprise, so the contest will be more expensive, the time. Under new management, the DCCC has repented of their failure last cycle to recognize that Larry is the right candidate for this district, and have pledged meaningful financial help. However, just like last time grassroots support will be the key to success.
Larry was one of the best candidates we fielded, in the 2006 cycle: hard-working, honest, with solid Democratic values. His wealthy opponent’s money came from the sale of his family’s textile mills – all the American jobs they represented went overseas. Freed from any repercussions to his personal fortune, the incumbent, Charles Taylor, voted for NAFTA after promising his constituents not to do so.
Update: A January poll by SEIU/CAP shows Larry pulling slightly ahead o the incumbent, 49%/47% !
Do what you can, to help?

Raised on this page: 6 80
Raised across ActBlue: 1,392 99,731

Charlie Brown

CA-04 (Map)

Charlie Brown held corrupt GOP incumbent Doolitle to 49%, a career-low margin, in the 2006 cycle. With Pombo out of Congress, Doolittle becomes the Most (Un-)Wanted member of the California Republican delegation, and a prime target for defeat. Our 2006 challenger miraculously avoided campaign debt and starts the new cycle ahead of the incumbent, with a small warchest. Let’s help him push to the victory line in 2008!

Raised on this page: 4 50
Raised across ActBlue: 4,133 120,100

Mark Udall

CO-Sen (Map)

This 5-term progressive Congressman has laid good groundwork for a bid for the Senate seat that comes open in 2008 with the retirement of low-profile GOP incumbent Wayne Allard.
Colorado began a trend to move bluer in the 2004 elections. Democrats captured control of the state legislature and flipped the other Senate seat. The Republicans have coalesced around an extremely conservative former Congressman who will start with a dedicated right-wing base of support.
The seat has to be regarded as the ripest Senate seat for a flip this cycle, but it alarming to see Democrats start take the flip for granted. Colorado is a polarized state and the retiring incumbent is a Republican. It will take money and energy and talent to win this seat, even though conditions are favorable.
The AFL-CIO midterm report on Congress’s voting record in the 2005 session shows Udall leads the Colorado delegation in support of legislation to protect working families. And, of course, for members of the Udall family, working to protect the environment is genetically hard-wired. Congressman Udall’€™s endorsements have included Planned Parenthood, the Sierra Club, and the Human Rights Campaign.

Raised on this page: 3 40
Raised across ActBlue: 296 29,333

Jerry McNerney

CA-11 (Map)

Republican smears against this outstanding Democratic freshman began with a mass mailing on the day he took the oath of office. They will spend millions to regain this seat, and it will take millions to keep this progressive alternative-energy guru in what used to be Richard Pombo’s seat, serving on the House Science and Technology Committee, the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
In some ways this was the most satisfying flip of the 2006 cycle; it would be a shame to lose it.

Raised on this page: 6 110
Raised across ActBlue: 599 19,091

Progressive Patriots Fund

Russ Feingold’€™s PAC disburses money to progressive candidates running for winnable House seats. It’€™s important to demonstrate that Senator Feingold has fund-raising clout similar to the big players in the Senate like Kerry, Clinton, and Kennedy, and that PACs that focus on liberal candidates can be an effective alternative to the DCCC.
Senator Feingold’s PAC raised significant money in the 2006 cycle for key races in Congress, and also in the successful effort to take control of the Iowa state legislature, where Republicans enjoyed a very slim margin.

Raised on this page: 6 80
Raised across ActBlue: 813 8,004

VoteVets

This group put together, fundraised, and aired some of the most pungently effective ads of the 2006 campaign. They target mealy-mouthed Republican incumbents who do a lot of public saluting, but who haven’t voted to support veterans’ benefits. And they support Democrats with military experience who run against draft-dodging GOP incumbents who vote for war without really understanding what it costs in lives and honor.
For 2008 VoteVets has taken the lead in pulverizing the incumbent Republican Senators from Maine and Kentucky, who are up this cycle. They’re highlighting Collins’s support for the war in Iraq, which is out of step with her new England constituents; and they’re helping Iraq War vet Andrew Horne gain more name recognition as he challenges Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, a major cheerleader for the President’s war, who dodged the draft himself in the Vietnam era.
They expose hypocrisy. It’s a good thing.

Raised on this page: 5 100
Raised across ActBlue: 202 4,004

Democracy for America

They back good candidates for office and have an effective rapid-response email network.
Most recent accomplishment: herding senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) back into the Democratic caucus on a vote not to grant telecom companies retroactive immunity for their role in helping the Bush administration place warantless wiretaps. They marshalled thousands of telephone calls to persuade her not to be the only Democrat voting the wrong way on the Judidciary Commitee’s version of that bill.

Raised on this page: 2 25
Raised across ActBlue: 3,994 76,849

Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund

Victory Fund provides leadership workshops to openly gay candidates who want to run for local, state, or federal office, and fund-raises nationwide for them. In the 2006 cycle the Fund endorsed 88 candidates – 55 incumbents and 33 non-incumbents. 67 of them won.
They’re effective!

Raised on this page: 5 70
Raised across ActBlue: 9 175

Donna Edwards

MD-04 (Map)

Update: Donna Edwards has won her second primary bid to unseat incumbent Al Wynn. She will replace a machine candidate with a progressive, in a Blue-safe district.
She’s ran, harder, smarter, and earlier, and she won the Maryland primary Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2008, this time, with your help . Congratulations all around!
Maryland 04 deserves more progressive representation than Al Wynn, who voted for the Bankruptcy Bill, the rollback of inheritance taxes to favor the super-rich, and various other Bush Administration bills that don’t have anything to do with the needs of his district or the views of his constituents.
Donna’s endorsements include National Organization for Women PAC, and Friends of the Earth PAC, Emily’s List, Progressive Maryland, League of Conservation Voters, and Clean Water Action.

Raised on this page: 5 80
Raised across ActBlue: 8,220 435,283