US Congress 2018

Political Note #48 David Loebsack IA 02

David Loebsack is a Democrat who supports Democratic issues. He refers to his childhood poverty when he focuses on the importance of the availability of jobs. He refers to his childhood poverty when he stresses the importance of keeping taxes for middle class people low. He credits a good deal of his success to his education in Iowa public schools and in public universities. He looks at strengthening education through partnerships between employers and community colleges. He is a champion of renewable energy -- particularly (though not only, after all he represents Iowa) the wind energy which has become such an important part of the energy supply in Iowa.

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Political Note #43 Anthony Brindisi NY 22

Anthony Brindisi the kind of legislator who transforms the communities he represents. As a school board member, he led the effort to rebuild the city schools. As a legislator, he supported development in his community. He supported a tourist attraction race track, technology research at the SUNY Polytech, and corporate research and development.

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Political Note #42 Tom O’Halleran AZ 01

Tom O'Halloran is in his first term in Congress. He won that Congressional seat in 2016 replacing an incumbent congresswoman who ran against John McCain for Senate. He has focused on education and children's issues. Nor was he just a "feel good" guy. He led a successful effort to reorganize what he described as the dysfunctional Children's Protective Services. There was a cost to that leadership -- loss of his committee chairmanship and, perhaps, gaining a right wing primary opponent.

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Political Note #34 Ruben Kihuen NV CD 04

Ruben Kihuen https://rubenforcongress.com/ is something of a golden boy in Nevada. He was elected (rounded numbers) to Congress at 35 to the state Senate at 30, to the state Assembly at 25. Bright, charming, handsome, a great athlete. Were it not for a foot injury, like one of his high school classmates, he might be finishing a career as a professional soccer player right now. Instead, he is finishing his political career, withdrawing from the Congressional race in response to accusations of sexual harassment.

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Political Note #33 Rick Nolan MN CD 08

Rick Nolan is an unusual man and an unusual politician. In his seventies, his current stint as a Congressman is his third career. His first career was also as a politician and Congressman. A young aide to Walter Mondale, after a brief stint as a teacher, he ran for Congress in 1972, lost in a close race, but won handily in the next three elections. In between his stints as a Congressman, Rick Nolan was a politically connected businessman. He was President of the US Export Corporation, then became head of the Minnesota World Trade Center.

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Political Note #31 Annie McLane Kuster NH CD 02

Annie Kuster was a leading New Hampshire attorney. Known for her work as an adoption attorney, she was also a lobbyist (or as she would call it, a public policy advocate) on behalf of surgical centers, pharmaceutical companies, and investment firms. Kuster's corporate work and connections led her toward the development of private-public partnerships as a Member of Congress -- the NH Medication Bridge program, a public-private partnership to provide free prescriptions to patients in need and the NH UNIQUE College Savings Plan to help families save money for college tax free. Ballotpedia describes Kuster as a moderate, left of center Democrat more likely to break with fellow Democrats than most of her colleagues.

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Political Note #30 Brad Schneider IL CD 10

Brad Schneider http://www.schneiderforcongress.com/ is the 7th closest Democratic winner of the 2016 election. We know that he is a target and that he could lose. In fact, he has lost before -- in 2014 to the man he defeated in 2012 and 2016. Brad Schnieder has been an engineer and a business consultant. After graduating from Northwestern University with a degree in industrial engineering, he worked on a kibbutz in Israel. He returned to Northwestern to get a degree from the School of Management. In his non-political life, he became the managing principal of an insurance firm, director of strategic services for a larger firm, and then an independent consultant. A Democrat with business experience, he calls himself a progressive. He is pro-choice and supportive of same-sex marriage. He supported a $10.10 minimum wage and, as all Democrats have, the Affordable Care Act.

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Political Note #25 Haley Stevens MI CD 11

Haley Stevens was President Obama's Auto Task Force's Chief of Staff. She was responsible for making the task force effective. The plan was so effective and she was so effective in leading its implementation that most of these, at the time tenuous, corporate auto loans have been repaid with interest. Recently, Haley Stevens has been saving and creating jobs in other ways. She worked as director of workforce development and manufacturing engagement for the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute in Chicago. She led a national workforce development program and created the country’s first online training program for digital manufacturing. Haley Stevens has a BA and MA from American University. She studied public policy and will have had to have learned a lot to win this election. This is not one of the districts that Hillary Clinton carried in 2016. But it is one in which there is a chance that a strong Democratic candidate could win.

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Political Note #24 Stephanie Dang Murphy FL CD 07

Stephanie Dang Murphy has a BA from William and Mary and a Master's Degree from Georgetown. She had been a Department of Defense national security analyst and earned a medal for exceptional service after the 9/11 attack. She was the managing director of Sungate Capital, an investment and consulting firm. Her story is longer than that, though. Stephanie Dang Murphy was born in Ho Chi Minh City. Her parents were refugees who escaped from Vietnam by boat when she was an infant. They lived in refugee camps until they were able to come to the United States. She remembers her mother cleaning office buildings and banks at night, bringing her and her brother to work while she cleaned.

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Political Note #23 Ami Bera CA CD 07

Even though Ami Bera is seeking his fourth term, his is not a safe seat. He won the seat in a close race against a Republican incumbent in 2012 and defeated a law and order Republican in 2016 under difficult circumstances. Ami Bera's family history is an American story of success and sadness. His father, an immigrant from India by way of Mexico, became a highly successful engineer. Proud of his son becoming a doctor and even more proud of his son seeking and then becoming a Member of Congress. Independent of Ami Bera's campaign and without his son's knowledge, he raised money illegally for the campaign, for which he pled guilty and was convicted. Ami Bera has persisted. He has been a moderate to liberal Democratic Congressman. Endorsed for election by gay rights groups and conservation groups, he supported the Affordable Care Act, advocated for Hillary Clinton for President and for the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.

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