Wendy Gooditis, a former teacher and home schooling parent, has been a real estate broker and a member of a group called Planned Parenthood Advocates. She is supported by a women's organization called Emerge that trains women candidates for office. Her interest in running for office was enhanced by the Women's March in Washington after Donald Trump's election as president.
Jacky Rosen won the election for her open seat Congressional seat in 2016 -- by a scant 3943 votes out of just under 311,000 cast, the second smallest margin for a Democratic winning House candidate. In winning this election, Rosen became Ms. Smith goes to Washington; that is when Smith is a Jewish name. Wife of a radiologist, mother of an adolescent, Jacky Rosen had no thought about a political career until Harry Reid encouraged her to run for the open and swingy congressional seat held by Republican Joe Heck since 2011. Rosen was so successful, Reid encouraged her to withdraw from the Congressional race and run for the US Senate, which she did successfully.
David Reid, businessman and naval reserve veteran, is running for (according to one blog) the fourth most likely Virginia House of Delegate seat to be flipped from Republican to Democrat in the 2017 election. Once upon a time, politicians in the United States spoke about growing up in a log cabin. Reid recalls growing up, with his divorced father and his siblings, in a cinder block house without running water, spending six years in an orphanage, and spending time in a foster family. Reid's naval experience and his business experience are his preparation for politics. He was a naval Intelligence Officer until he retired as a Commander in 2011.
Chris Hurst is running for the Virginia House of Delegates with a particular, but not sole, interest in gun safety. He does not have a name recognition problem. A news anchor for the local television station, he had a life changing event in 2015 when his fiance and another station employee were shot and killed while the news was being broadcast.
Manka Dhingra is a County Prosecutor and describes her family history as follows: Her grandmother spoke out against domestic violence in India. A great aunt was a UN representative for women at conferences in Beijing and New York. If she is elected Democrats will gain control of the Washington State Senate.
On February 25, there will be an election in District 10 of the Delaware State Senate. Delaware has a Democratic governor and a majority of the Delaware General Assembly. It would have a majority (with the Lt. Governor voting) except that the Senator from District 10 was elected to be the Lt. Governor and had to resign her seat. To retain a majority in the Delaware Senate, the Democrats have to win the election in District 10.