Tammy Baldwin is Wisconsin's Democratic Senator. Her political career is a reminder that Wisconsin was and may again be a home of liberalism. As she moved from the Wisconsin legislature to the House of Representatives to the Senate, Tammy Baldwin was notable for two things: 1) Until very recently she was one of very few openly gay politicians 2) She has been among the most liberal members of each legislative body that she has been in.
Rodman is an Associate Professor of Anthropology and Director of Women's Studies at Randolph-Macon College. She is a former Fulbright Scholar and serves an expert witness in U.S. Federal Immigration courts assisting migrants seeking political asylum. She describes herself as committed to diversity and inclusion, economic development, reproductive rights, and affordable healthcare. She is also a member of the North Carolina-based Lumbee tribe of Native Americans.
Cheryl Turpin ran in the special election for this open seat and lost to a deputy sheriff by six points or a little more than 300 votes. She is trying again against the same opponent in the regular election of 2017. is a local high school science teacher. She received a BS from Virginia Commonwealth University and an MEd from the University of Virginia. For the past 8 years, she has taught Advanced Placement Environmental Science. She also spent much of her career working with at-risk students, serving as a partner in an organization dedicated to closing the achievement gap by preparing all students for college.
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.
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.
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.
Lee Carter is another Virginia candidate for the House of Delegates with deep roots in the military -- a former marine who is proud of the fact that members of his family have served in all five branches of the US military. He is an IT specialist who lives in the City of Manassas. He moved to Virginia in 2011, after completing five years of service in the United States Marine Corps. He got his technical training through the Marine Corps Communications-Electronics School. He describes himself as having been involved in issues of economic justice in Northern Virginia, including, as part of his commitment to affordable housing, a fight to help residents of a mobile home park to stay in their homes.
Christine Pellegrino is a reading teacher. She was a Bernie Sanders delegate to the national convention and has been an activist on behalf of those who did not want to take the state school assessment tests. She is a proponent of women's rights, the $15 per hour minimum wage, campaign finance reform, and protecting the environment. A victory in this traditionally Republican Assembly district would be a sign that Democrats can win the State Senate in 2018.
Josh Gottheimer has been in the page to intern to Congressman pipeline. When he was 16, he was a page for Senator Lautenberg of NJ. While at West Essex High School, the University of Pennsyivania, and Harvard Law School, he was able to get internships with C-Span, with the Secretary of the US Senate, and with Tom Foley when he was Speaker of the House of Representatives. He was on Bill Clinton's Rapid Response Team for the 1996 reelection campaign and then joined the administration as a speechwriter. In 2004, he worked, first for the Wesley Clark presidential campaign, then for the John Kerry Campaign. In 2008, he worked for the Hillary Clinton campaign. In 2016, he targeted NJ CD 05 and won by less than 15,000 votes.
Tom Suozzi is the former mayor of Glen Cove, Long Island. As mayor, he earned Al Gore's praise for cleaning up industrial and commercial sites and redeveloping brownfield and superfund sites. When he took office as Nassau County Executive in 2001 as the first Democrat in that position in 30 years, he was faced by billions in debt and an annual deficit of $300 millio. He cut spending, eliminated the deficit; reduced borrowing and reduced the debt. He centralized access to social services, earned praise for his achievements, and was reelected.