Jared Golden is the only Member of Congress to have been elected by Ranked Voting. He is the rare ex military newly elected Member of Congress who was an enlistee and not an officer. He is one of the even rarer Member of Congress to have been identified by the VA as having PTSD. He brings a distinctive and important voice to Congress.
Xochitl Torres Small was elected to Congress from NM 02 by less than 4,000 votes in 2018. The district is heavily Republican. She is vulnerable in 2020. She was a strong candidate. Wife of a state rep, a field rep for Senator Udall for three years, and an attorney whose expertise is water issues, she was well prepared for the 2018 campaign and is prepared for 2020. Her intriguing high school experience only adds to the strength of her candidacy.
Is Andy Kim a regular guy, a ball player? His old website recalled him hitting a New Jersey recreation league home run. The story is gone from the website. There is a picture of him as a boy holding a baseball bat,not quite ready to take a swing. Not exactly comfortable as a regular guy. He’s more impressive than a regular guy. His bio recalls his Korean born parents and his commitment to service. Every bit of his life reflects his parents’ expectations and his commitment to service. Andy Kim’s toughness and his family’s toughness stand out. His father was an orphan and a polio victim living on the streets in South Korea. His mother was almost as poor -- from a failed farm community devastated by famine.
Lucy McBath ran to unseat Karen Handel. She had no intention to be in politics. She was a stewardess for Delta Airlines. She worked for Delta for thirty years. The impetus for Lucy McBath to run for office was Hillary Clinton’s loss to Donald Trump. Lucy McBath had been living an apolitical life. Her son, Jordan Davis, was murdered. The murder got national attention. In a Jacksonville, Florida convenience store parking lot, Jordan Davis’ car radio was too loud, his music was offensive. Dunn told the teenagers in the car to turn the music down. One kid in front did. From the back, Jordan Davis told him to turn it back up again. Dunn didn’t like Jordan Davis’ attitude. So he shot him. He kept on shooting as the car drove away.
Jennifer Boysko grew up in Alabama. She went to college in Virginia -- Hollins University. Still a women's school. With a reputation for gentility. And for literacy, for writing. For personal attention. Fewer than eight hundred undergraduates.Her first political job was for an Alabaman. She was an aide to Senator Richard Shelby - when he was a Democrat. She became a policy maven. Federal policy and local policy. She worked for a township supervisor in Virginia. She did particular work with homeowners groups. Governor McAuliffe appointed her as a Citizen Member of the state Real Estate Board. After training from Emerge, she ran for HD 86 for a second time in 2015. The incumbent retired. Maybe he knew she was coming back. Other Democrats knew. No one opposed her in the primary. She won the general election 54 -- 42 despite being outspent. She is now running for the State Senate from a position of strength.
This Note, written just prior to the 2018 election, describes some Republicans from solidly Republican districts who, nevertheless, are particularly worthy to attempt to defeat.
Carolyn Bordeaux was the Director of the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State -- a kind of university think tank. She went to Yale, to USC for an MPA, to Syracuse for a doctorate. Her principal qualification for a run for Congress is her work for the Georgia State Senate. She was the Director of the Georgia Senate Budget and Evaluation Office - a non-partisan job in a body with a Republican majority. She helped the Georgia Senate respond to the 207/2008 recession.
After graduating from the University of Florida and Stetson College of Law, Kristen Carlson worked as a prosecutor in Pasco County. After that, she worked for the Florida Department of Citrus in Lakeland as a Senior Attorney and General Counsel for 12 years. She left government work to head an orange juice trade association. That made her a lobbyist. Not a popular role these days, but good experience in learning how to get things done in Congress.
Linda Coleman is one of ten children. She worked in the tobacco fields to earn clothing money for school. She went to North Carolina AT&T University and studied education. She taught school, then left for the University of Pittsburgh to get a Master's in Public Policy. She was elected as a Wake County Commissioner before becoming the Director of Human Resources for the Departments of Agriculture and Administration and later Personnel Director for the Department of Community Colleges. She was elected a state representative. Now she is running for the US Congress.
Eighteen years as Executive Director of the Kansas Recreation and Parks Association, lobbying the legislature on behalf of parks. she was elected to the state Senate in 2004. She experienced the disaster of the Brownback experiment, has the support of moderate Republicans as well as Kansas's Democrats, and could be elected governor.