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.
Kendra Horn made the most of her return to Oklahoma. She put together a campaign for Congress. She focused on health care and on women’s issues. She discusses the importance of gun safety. Her other issues include education and job training and infrastructure. Her transition to being a Member of Congress is going well. She voted for Nancy Pelosi for Speaker, explaining the only other choice was Republican Kevin McCarthy. She got appointed to the Armed Services Committee, explaining the appointment will allow her to look out for Oklahoma’s military installations. She has been looking out for other Oklahomans. With two Oklahoma Republican Congressmen, she introduced a bill to fund the Indian Health Service, notwithstanding the government shutdown.
Before his election, TJ Cox focused on combinations of business and good works. He founded the Central Valley NMTC Fund -- a certified community development organization which uses the federal New Markets Tax Credit program for disadvantaged communities and neighborhoods. TJ Cox’s victory in 2018 was an adventure in and of itself. He originally planned on a candidacy for CA 10 – a district that had attracted nearly a dozen Democratic candidates. He was unlikely to be one of the top two in the non-partisan primary. He switched to CA 21 – persuading the 2016 losing Democrat to leave the race. Elected, he is on the Agriculture Committee. A good place for someone in California’s Central Valley. Addressing the government shut down, he introduced a bill to allow government employees not getting their paychecks, to borrow up to $6,000 from the government.
Countries seem to have a vision of themselves as homogeneous. Or as places where the “real people” of the country should dominate. Not a pretty picture.
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.
Ben Mcadams was an amazing state Senator. He was able to get good ratings from organizations with opposing views. He received a 75% rating from Parents for Choice in Education. He received a 77% rating from the NEA. He was the highest scoring Democrat, with an 82% rating, from the Utah Taxpayers Association. As mayor of Salt Lake County, he was required by the legislature to create a new homeless shelter in the County, but not in Salt Lake City. This was a political problem for Ben McAdams. It may have been intended to be a political problem for Ben McAdams. The neighborhoods outside of Salt Lake City did not want a homeless shelter. Neither did the neighborhoods in the City. He decided he needed to know what it meant to be homeless, what it meant to be in a shelter. He might have asked experts. He might have arranged for a study. He decided to pretend he was homeless.
You might think the Civil Rights Movement was over by 1992. Not in Alabama. Five months after taking office as US Attorney, Doug Jon. s received national attention when a bomb exploded at a Birmingham women’s health clinic, killing a police officer and maiming a nurse. As US Attorney, he coordinated the task force (the FBI, local police, and other law enforcement) that led to Eric Rudolf’s capture and guilty plea to several bombings. The Birmingham bombing, the Atlanta Olympic bombing, and others. Specially authorized to act in state court, US Attorney Doug Jones was the successful prosecutor of the remaining perpetrator who could be brought to trial for the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. Four young black girls had been killed. Jones brought the Ku Klux Klansman back to Alabama from Texas, tried him, and convicted him for killing those four girls.