There are 435 seats in the House, so 218 are needed for the majority. Currently, Republicans hold 242 seats, Democrats 193, which means that Democrats need 25 seats to give Nancy Pelosi her gavel back and give President Barack Obama a functional Congress.
Daily Kos has now endorsed 15 candidates that won’t just get us closer to those 25 seats, but will also significantly upgrade the quality of the Democratic caucus. There are no Blue Dogs in this bunch, just honest-to-goodness solid progressives.
I’ll introduce the seven latest additions below. We’d love if you could help all of them, but as the list gets bigger, that becomes more difficult. So adopt the candidates you like best—you may be attracted to some because of geography, or because of diversity, or because of issues they focus on, or because they personally inspire you, or because you really, really, really hate their Republican opponent. The “why” is irrelevant, just please help someone out, give what you can, volunteer if you live in their districts or nearby, and do your part because reelecting Obama will only go so far in helping move our nation forward.
Given the number of seats we need to pick up, the path to a Speaker Nancy Pelosi runs through each and every one of these districts. There can be no complacency here. So without further ado, here are the new additions to our Orange to Blue Speaker Pelosi Project list. A link to the answers to our candidate questionnaire is included next to their name.
Lois Frankel, FL-22
O2B Questionnaire
LoisFrankelForCongress.com
This new Boca Raton and West Palm Beach-area district leans Democratic, with Obama scoring a 57-43 percent victory in 2008. Frankel served as West Palm Beach mayor and is a former minority leader of the Florida House, so she’s got political chops. Bill Clinton is fundraising for her tomorrow, so she’s getting the big guns out on her behalf. Republicans have put up a former state rep who has had luck getting elected in difficult turf, so he’s no slouch.
