2018 General Election Elected 52 – 46
Winning back the Senate would be a small miracle. In a non-presidential year election, with a very unpopular president, winning three seats to gain control of the Senate would be a probability. Not this year. There are more than twenty Democratic Senators up for election in 2018 and too many things can go wrong. Focusing on helping the vulnerable among the Democratic incumbents while targeting Republican seats Democrats could win is the strategy. A broad view of which Republican seats is a requirement.
Senator Debbie Stabenowhttp://www.stabenowforsenate.com/ deserves and needs our support. There was a time when Michigan was reliably Democratic. Not anymore.
Michigan has a Republican governor, a Republican Lt. Governor, a Republican Attorney General, a Republican Secretary of State, a Republican Senate (27-11), a Republican House of Representatives (63-47) and nine Republican members of Congress out of fourteen Congressional seats. Michigan was one of the three failed “firewall states” that failed Hillary Clinton and elected Donald Trump as President.
Michigan does have two Democratic Senators. Debbie Stabenow is one of them. She is up for election in 2018. Senator Debbie Stabenow http://www.stabenowforsenate.com/ was first elected in 2000 and, if elected in 2018, would enter her fourth term as Senator from Michigan. Incumbency is no guarantee of victory. Five or six Republicans seem eager to oppose her. Already announced are an African-American former Justice of the State Supreme Court and a wealthy businesswoman. To make her life a little more complicated, Debbie Stabenow will also have an left-wing Independent candidate to contend with.
Debbie Stabenow trained to be a social worker and it shows — not only in the way that you might think. Solidly middle class, her father owned a local Oldsmobile dealership. Her mother was Director of Nursing at a local hospital. Except for the ex-husband, who she divorced after a prostitution incident, she has avoided scandal. She hasn’t made money on the job and has a net worth that is a miniscule percentage of the average Senator.
Debbie Stabenow is a work horse Senator. She takes on unglamorous jobs. She was chair and is now the ranking member of the Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee. When she was chair and orchestrating the writing of the farm bill, she focused on supporting clean energy, local food systems, specialty crops that would reinvigorate the economies of small towns and rural communities as well as cutting-edge research and bio–based manufacturing. The food and farm legislation while she was chair had bipartisan support (It’s hard to remember that such a thing was possible). The legislation ended a variety of farm subsidies and, instead expanded crop insurance to ensure that farmers would not go out of business when a weather disaster strikes. Her proposal as ranking member calls for the development of urban farming cooperatives, increased research funding, and access to USDA loan and risk management programs for urban farmers.
The agriculture committee also deals with the Great Lakes. Debbie Stabenow proposes a ban on oil and gas drilling in the Great Lakes and continues to fight against attempts to divert water out of the Great Lakes. She spends a great deal of energy protecting the Lakes — from preventing the spread of the Asian carp to proposing tough regulations on pipelines to preventing Canadians from dumping trash in the Lakes.
This is all good work and important work –– solid, the work of a Senator. While Debbie Stabenow does this work, she is also a reliable supporter of Democrats in the flash point areas — from social issues like gay rights and abortion to economic ones like the Affordable Care Act and the minimum wage. In years gone by, Senator Debbie Stabenow’s http://www.stabenowforsenate.com/ reelection would be automatic. Not now. Not anymore. MIchigan is treacherous territory for Democrats now. She will need every bit of help we can provide. As with all candidates for election as far away as 2018, monthly donations, even small monthly donations are truly important. Help her out
