Giving money to Democratic candidates running against right-wing misfits in deep red gerrymandered districts is a waste of resources-- except when it isn't. Let's look at 4 examples of crackpot incumbents who will never be defeated by Democrats, no matter how much money is spent against them:
Madison Cawthorn (Nazi-NC)- PVI is R+14
Lauren Boebert (Q-CO)- PVI is R+15
Matt Gaetz (R-FL)- PVI is R+20
Marjorie Traitor Greene (Q-GA)- PVI is R+45
Madison "coke and orgies" Cawthorn is in serious danger of losing in the May 17 primary, but if he doesn't, he is completely safe, despite half a dozen Democrats running and one money serious enough money to compete... at least in theory. These are the candidates raising enough money to run competitive races in the western North Carolina contest:
Madison Cawthorn (R)- $3,439,584 (cash on hand- $242,304)
Jasmine Beach-Ferrara (D)- $1,400,096 (cash on hand- $467,929)
Chuck Edwards (R)- $645,467 (cash on hand- $390,796)
Matthew Burril (R)- $444,475 (cash on hand- $59,504)
Bruce O'Connell (R)- $423,359 (cash on hand- $288,176)
Alas, Beach-Ferrara isn't going to beat Cawthorn if he gets through his primary, but she is going to turn out voters-- and that is exactly what likely Senate candidate Cheri Beasely needs in the western part of the state. If Beasley wasn't from the Manchin-Sinema wing of the party, Blue America would have taken that into account when we decided to suggest other races instead of the one in NC-11.
Lauren Boebert also has more to fear in a primary than in the general election. But-- if money tells the story she has nothing to fear in either.) 7 Democrats who raised money have withdrawn from the race, collectively having raised over $3 million. This is the money race of of March 31:
Lauren Boebert (R)- $4,360,143 (cash on hand- $2,189,623)
Adam Frisch (D)- $1,745,761 (cash on hand- $1,666,811)
Sol Sandoval (D)- $796,860 (cash on hand- $93,413)
Alex Walker (D)- $128,407 (cash on hand- $68,728)
Don Coram (R)- $89,419 (cash on hand- $55,251)
Marina Zimmerman (R)- $42,943 (cash on hand- $15,314)
The Democrats have lots of state legislative candidates and a very mediocre U.S. Senate candidate, Michael Bennet, who will benefit from higher turnout in CO-03 if Frisch, likely a vanity candidate and a huckster, decides to spend any if his big hoard of cash on GOTV operations. Sandoval will for sure.
Same general story in Florida: huge general election with races for governor, attorney general, CFO, agriculture commissioner and senator-- plus the state legislature-- with sexual predator and incumbent Matt Gaetz sitting in a district too red for any Democrat to compete in, even if Gaetz were tried and found guilty of sex trafficking charges before the election (which isn't going to happen anyway).
Gaetz has raised $4,652,810, spent most of it and has about a million and a half still in his campaign piggy bank. None of his primary or general election opponent have raised significant money against him, although Rebekah Jones, running as a Democrat, raised $367,514, spent almost all of it and has about $7,000 left for GOTV efforts.
And that leaves the extremist kook every Democrat hates most, Marjorie Traitor Greene, once just the blow-job queen of Alpharetta, now one of the most powerful Republicans in Congress. All the constitutional offices are up for grabs, as is the crucial, crucial, crucial US Senate seat. There aren't that many Democratic voters in Greene's backward district, but every one of them counts.
She has 5 Republicans and 3 Democrats who want to take her on. She's raised $8,426,027 and has just over $3 million left in her campaign account. Her closest competitor is Democrat Marcus Flowers who has raised $7 million and has nearly 2 million cash-on-hand. 85% of his money comes from small donors. Traitor Greene's second biggest competitor is another Democrat, Holly McCormack, who raised $1,676,084 and has $84,762 left. And the third biggest competitor is another Democrat! Wendy Davis raised $456,212 and has $100,000 left. The only Republican to raise 6 figures is Jennifer Strahan, who raised $322,625 and is sitting on $157,549.
Again, short of her contracting COVID and dying or the 14th Amendment case against her being successful, Traitor Greene is going back to Congress next year. Yesterday, a federal judge, Amy Totenberg, denied Traitor Greene’s request for a preliminary injunction in the case, clearing the way for a group of Georgia voters to move forward with legal efforts seeking to disqualify her. "In the 73-page ruling, Judge Totenberg wrote that Greene had failed to meet the 'burden of persuasion' in her request for injunctive relief, which she called an extraordinary and drastic remedy. 'This case involves a whirlpool of colliding constitutional interests of public import,' Judge Totenberg wrote. 'The novelty of the factual and historical posture of this case-- especially when assessed in the context of a preliminary injunction motion reviewed on a fast track-- has made resolution of the complex legal issues at stake here particularly demanding.'... The constitutional challenge to Greene’s candidacy, filed last month with Georgia’s secretary of state, argued that Greene had helped to plan the attack on the Capitol or knew that a demonstration organized by Trump and his supporters on the National Mall would escalate into violence."
This isn't going to amount to anything and this morning Jonathan Weisman wrote that "Every election year in recent cycles, celebrity Democratic candidates have emerged-- either on the strength of their personalities, the notoriety of their Republican opponents or both-- to rake in campaign cash, then lose impossible elections. Some Democrats say such races are draining money from more winnable campaigns, but the candidates insist that even in losing, they are helping the party by pulling voters in for statewide races, bolstering the Democratic brand and broadening the party’s appeal."
Traitor Greene's top opponent, Marcus Flowers raised more than twice as such as Traitor Greene did in the first quarter-- $2.4 million to $1.1 million. "Flowers, wrote Weisman, "has proved remarkably adept at raising small-dollar donations with a barrage of emails-- sometimes multiple emails each day-- that capitalize on the behavior of the far-right congresswoman he is running against. An Army veteran who served in combat, he has emphasized his military service, talking tough while attacking Greene’s sympathy for the Jan. 6 rioters and far-right conspiracy theories."
VoteVets co-founder Jon Soltz told Weisman that support for Flowers "was not necessarily about winning the seat but holding Greene in check and using his run to elevate her profile as the face of the Republican Party in suburban districts that are more winnable. 'She can’t be free to travel around the country and spew her lies and disinformation,' Soltz said. 'We’re making her spend her money.' In the process, Flowers can build name recognition for future runs and might energize the Democrats who live in Northwest Georgia to come out and vote for him, Mr. Warnock and the Democratic candidate for governor, Stacey Abrams."
Blue America isn't supporting any of the hopeless candidates running against the crackpots mentioned above. However, we are supporting-- here-- progressive candidates running against vulnerable Blue Dogs in upcoming primaries. Each of them has a legitimate chance to win by beating an odious and corrupt right-wing Democrat from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. Please click on the thermometer on the left and consider contributing to the men and women opposing Ed Case (Blue Dog-HI), Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX), Max Rose (Blue Dog-NY), David Scott (Blue Dog-GA), Jim Costa (Blue Dog-CA), Kurt Schrader (Blue Dog-OR) and Lou Correa (Blue Dog-CA).