The Dems’ Bright Spots

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


By my count, there isn’t a single Senate race right now in which Democrats have a better-than-even shot to take a Republican seat. The Dems even trail in the open-seat contests in Ohio and Missouri—thought to be their best pickup opportunities. On the House side, the situation is much the same. But there, at least, one can see some bright spots for the blue team.

  • In Delaware, a recent Rasmussen poll shows Lt. Gov. John Carney leading two unknown Republicans by double digits. The Dems should be able to pick up longtime GOP Rep. Mike Castle’s house seat—but only because he’s running for Senate. 
  • In Hawaii, Democrats have finally sorted out the internal battle that caused them to split the vote against Honolulu City councilman (and now-Rep.) Charles Djou in a May special election. State Sen. Colleen Hanabusa, who took the larger chunk of the split Dem vote in May, will face Djou in a rematch. Djou will need more than the 39 percent he won in the spring if he hopes to hold on to his seat this fall. 
  • In Louisiana, Rep. Joseph Cao became the first Republican since 1890 to win in the New Orleans-centered 2nd Congressional District when he ousted corrupt incumbent Dem William Jefferson in 2008. Our own Suzy Khimm has suggested that Cao might hold on—but in a district that is more Democratic than the vast majority of House districts, it’ll be a heavy lift.
  • In Illinois, Dems hope to pick up the suburban Chicago district that was held for five terms by GOPer Mark Kirk, who is running for Barack Obama’s old Senate seat. The district is solidly Democratic in presidential elections (61 percent voted for Obama), but voters there elected the moderate Kirk again and again (Kirk twice beat Dan Seals, who’s running again this year). But like the Delaware contest, this race is only competitive because the incumbent left it to run for Senate (and has a good chance of winning.)

That’s really about it—and the Illinois race is a bit of a stretch if we’re only counting contests where the Dems have a “better than even” shot. Needless to say, four pickups is not going to do much to counteract the problems that dozens of Dem incumbents face this fall. That sound you hear is minority leader John Boehner giggling. 

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate