Matthew Dowd was a precursor to the ex-Republican members of the Lincoln Project. He is running for Texas Lt. Governor while they are supporting Democrats around the country.
Hala Ayala could be on a trajectory to achieve higher office and great things.
Justin Fairfax is the Democratic candidate for Lt. Governor in Virginia. A graduate of Duke and Columbia Law School, he served as an assistant US Attorney, then worked for a large law firm. He worked in the Al Gore campaign and in Senator John Edwards office. He co-chaired Senator Mark Warner's re-election campaign. He lost in the primary to the current Attorney General and is the favorite for Lt. Governor.
Bill Nelson went to the University of Florida where he became a member of Blue Key. He left for Yale and the University of Virginia Law School. In 1965 he came back to Florida and joined the US Army Reserve. After his widowed mother died, he went on active duty as a pilot. Notwithstanding his political successes, being elected to Congress and the Senate, there was nothing he loved more than flying. His greatest political commitment was to the US space program.
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.