As we watch the election results come in tonight we as a party and a movement need to reflect on the fact that we actually need candidates on the ballot to win elections.
Steven D has an excellent Recommended Diary on the fact that he had no Democratic options when he went to vote today.
As I wrote last week the filing deadlines for Congress start this week and include 5 states that have filing deadlines in 2015. Our House recruiting is currently awful:
• 34 of the 79 Republican Members of the House of Representatives who represent districts where President Obama got at least 47% of the vote currently are running unopposed
• 143 Republican Members of the House of Representatives currently have no Democrat running against them
• In many of the seats where we have candidates, those candidates do not have the resources currently to get their message out
• Ohio’s Congressional filing deadline is December 16, 2015 and currently 8 out of 12 Republicans in Ohio are running unopposed
We can change this. One of DKos’s greatest strengths as a community is to serve as a collective think tank activist platform. From this platform Netroots Nation was created, debate questions brainstormed to improve debate prep, and candidates recruited.
Whether we support Bernie, Hillary, or Martin, we all should care that they can get their agenda enacted and that cannot happen without picking up the House. And despite what the DC Establishment thinks the House can be put in play, particularly in a wave election. We need 30 seats to win back the House and as I have said there are currently 79 Republicans sitting in seats Obama got at least 47%.
Join me below the fold to see the Congressional candidate filing deadlines in your state and to propose who we can recruit. We can crowdsource this. Let the research, brainstorming, and outreach begin. Who wants to join me in organizing this?