DCCC Announces 26 Members on Frontline Incumbent Retention Program

Israel leads the DCCC. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel named 26 of his colleagues to the Frontline program, a committee program designed to protect their most vulnerable incumbents.

“We call this program Frontline for a reason – these Members are on the vanguard of protecting and expanding the middle class,” Israel said in a written statement released Tuesday morning.

“While the 2014 campaign will be dominated by a strong offense taking on the Tea Party Republican Congress, our success begins with our Members,” added Israel, a Democrat from New York. “These battle-tested men and women have proven time and again that they can win because no one better reflects the values of their districts.”

Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn. will spearhead the program as its chairman. He’s a Frontline alumnus as recently as the 2012 cycle.

Otherwise, the list includes several freshman members and Blue Dog Democrats:

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Texas: Francisco ‘Quico’ Canseco Goes Down

(Douglas Graham CQ/Roll Call File Photo)

Rep. Francisco “Quico” Canseco (R) lost his bid for a second term Tuesday night.

Democratic challenger Pete Gallego was up by more than 5 points at the time the Associated Press called the race.

Throughout the cycle, Texas Republicans were cautiously confident in Canseco’s chances for a second term. But in the past week or so, confidence levels seemed to subside some.

Gallego has, at times, run a disorganized campaign during the past year, but it was enough to win this race.

Daily Ad Track

Here’s what cut through the clutter today.

National

Not everyone agreed with us when we declared a spot from former Massachusetts Senate Minority Leader Richard Tisei (R) as one of the best of the cycle. It was a static camera shot of the beach with almost no political messaging beyond his campaign logo. It reminded us of the annual Corona palm tree Christmas ads.

But if you need any better understanding of why we liked that spot, well, we’ll let this 4-year-old Abby do the talking for us.

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House Majority PAC Airs Final Spots in Nine Races

Democratic-aligned House Majority PAC today will announce its final flight of advertisements in nine key races.

According to a copy of the spots provided early to Roll Call, House Majority PAC will target the following districts with six-figure buys:

In Arizona’s 1st district, the Democratic group and EMILY’s List will jointly air “Why” through Election Day in the Phoenix market for $120,000:

In Arizona’s new 9th district, it will join with EMILY’s List to air “About Women” through Election Day in the Phoenix market for $120,000:

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Liberal Super PACs Announce New House Race Advertising

Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle is among the Republicans being targeted by a new liberal super PAC. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

A super PAC led by Jonathan Soros, the son of liberal financier George Soros, today announced the eight lawmakers it will target via direct mail, phone contact and Internet advertising.

The New York Times has described the group, Friends of Democracy, as “The Super PAC That Aims to End Super PACs.” Earlier this year, the Times reported that the group was targeting “10 to 15 House lawmakers whose records and public statements have not been supportive of what Mr. Soros calls a system of ‘citizen-led’ elections.”

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Texas: Francisco Canseco Internal Poll Showed Him With 10-Point Lead Over Pete Gallego

Rep. Francisco "Quico" Canseco's campaign released a poll that showed him with a lead over state Rep. Pete Gallego. (Douglas Graham/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Rep. Francisco “Quico” Canseco’s (R) campaign released an internal poll today that showed he had a 10-point lead over state Rep. Pete Gallego (D).

The poll, conducted Sept. 23-25, showed Canseco up over Gallego 47 percent to 37 percent. Eight percent said they would support “other” and 8 percent were undecided.

Forty percent of respondents had a favorable impression of Canseco, while 31 percent viewed him in a negative light. As one would expect in a race with an incumbent, Gallego lags behind in name identification. But like Canseco, he has a net favorable rating. Thirty-one percent of those surveyed viewed him favorably, while 27 percent viewed him unfavorably.

A source in the Gallego campaign seemed surprise with the poll and said their own internal polling shows “a tight race.”

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Texas: AARP, Univision Set to Host Debate

AARP and a local Univision affiliate are set to host a Spanish-language debate between Rep. Francisco “Quico” Canseco (R) and his Democratic challenger, state Rep. Pete Gallego, on Sept. 25.

The two candidates are battling it out for the 23rd district, which Roll Call rates as a Tossup.

The debate will take place at Palo Alto College in San Antonio, and topics addressed will be about “retirement security — particularly Social Security and Medicare,” according to an AARP press release.

Texas: House Runoff Roundup

Updated 12:07 a.m.| Next to the Senate GOP runoff, the most closely watched race in Texas was the Democratic runoff over who would challenge Rep. Francisco “Quico” Canseco (R) in the fall.

State Rep. Pete Gallego defeated former Rep. Ciro Rodriguez in the Democratic runoff for the Texas 23. The Associated Press called the race with 84 percent of precincts reporting, as Gallego had 53.6 percent.

It is an enormous relief to national Democrats. While Rodriguez is personally popular, Democrats were concerned about his ability to run a serious campaign in the fall. Democrats said they were prepared to invest in the race but acknowledged it would have been a drain on resources that could be deployed elsewhere.

Gallego ran a flawed campaign in the primary. He brought in new team early in the runoff. The move worked.

Democratic Races

• Texas 33: State Rep. Marc Veasey defeated former state Rep. Domingo Garcia. Veasey will almost certainly be coming to Congress in November.
• Texas 34: Attorney Filemon Vela defeated former Congressional staffer Denise Blanchard. Filemon will most likely be coming to Congress in the fall.

Republican Races

• Texas 14: State Rep. Randy Weber defeated Pearland City Councilwoman Felicia Harris. Weber will face former Rep. Nick Lampson (D) in the fall. Roll Call rates that race as Likely Republican.
• Texas 25: Former Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams defeated tea party candidate Wes Riddle. Williams will most likely be coming to Congress in the fall.
• Texas 36: Former Rep. Steve Stockman appeared to defeat financial adviser Stephen Takach. With 74 percent of precincts reporting, Stockman had 55 percent, indicating that he will most likely be returning to Congress in the fall.

Texas: San Antonio Mayor Endorses Pete Gallego

San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro endorsed state Rep. Pete Gallego this morning in Texas’ 23rd district Democratic runoff.

Gallego is running in a primary runoff against former Rep. Ciro Rodriguez for the right to challenge Rep. Francisco “Quico” Canseco (R) in the fall.

“He is the best candidate in this race to take on Quico Canseco in November, and a proven leader whose steady hand we can count on to serve our community in Congress for years to come,” Castro said.

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Several Texas House Races Headed for Runoffs

Former Rep. Ciro Rodriguez (left) will face state Rep. Pete Gallego in the Democratic runoff for the 23rd district. (Scott J. Ferrell/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Updated 2:10 a.m. | HOUSTON — With few House incumbents facing competitive primaries Tuesday in Texas, most of the action was in a handful of contests for safe open and new seats. As expected, almost all of those crowed races will be decided by July 31 runoffs after no candidate was able to get at least 50 percent of the primary vote.

Democrats were unable to avoid a runoff in the one district that is expected to be competitive this fall. State Rep. Pete Gallego will face former Rep. Ciro Rodriguez in the Democratic runoff in the redrawn majority-Hispanic 23rd district. The winner will take on freshman Rep. Francisco “Quico” Canseco (R), who is a top target for Democrats.

Rodriguez got 48 percent of the vote, nearly avoiding a runoff with Gallego, the favored nominee of national party operatives. Full story

Texas: League of Conservation Voters Ties Ciro Rodriguez to President George W. Bush

The League of Conservation Voters will go up today on San Antonio airwaves with its campaign against former Rep. Ciro Rodriguez in Texas’ 23rd district Democratic primary.

The group’s new television ad does not name LCV’s endorsed candidate in the primary, state Rep. Pete Gallego. It does, however, mention another Texan — President George W. Bush. The intent is to tie Rodriguez’s environmental record with that of Bush’s.

“Say no to Bush, and say no to Ciro Rodriguez,” a female narrator says.

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Fundraising Numbers Continue to Trickle In

First-quarter fundraising numbers continue to trickle in as the Sunday deadline to file reports with the Federal Election Commission approaches.

The first fundraising period of election years offers indications of which candidates are gaining momentum heading into primary season. It’s the last quarterly report before about half the states hold their Congressional primaries.

This is another daily roundup of candidates who released their numbers in the past 24 hours. It’s heavy on Democrats, who are looking to hold the Senate and win back the House majority.

Senate:

• Arizona: Former Surgeon General Dr. Richard Carmona raised $800,000 in his first full quarter as a candidate. He has $1.1 million in cash on hand. The large amount shows that the fundraising prowess he showed in the fourth quarter was more than just low-hanging fruit.
  
• Connecticut: Rep. Christopher Murphy (D) brought in $855,000 for his Senate campaign to replace retiring Sen. Joe Lieberman (I). He will report about $3 million in the bank. Full story

Texas: San Antonio Court Orders May 29 Primary

The federal court in San Antonio issued an order today setting a new primary schedule. The ruling comes a couple of days after the same federal court ordered a new interim Congressional map for the Lone Star State.

You can check out the court’s full order, sent over by the Texas Democratic Party, below. But here are the key dates:

• March 2: The filing period reopens
• March 9: The filing period closes at 6 p.m.
• May 29: Primary election
• June 10: Deadline for primary runoff candidates to withdraw from the ballot
• July 31: Primary runoff election Full story

San Antonio Federal Court Releases New Interim Texas Map

A federal three-judge panel in San Antonio released a new interim Texas Congressional map today after both parties failed to produce a compromise following weeks of wrangling in court.

The court-ordered map resembles a February proposal from state Attorney General Greg Abbott (R) that gave Democrats a new district in the Fort Worth area, effectively giving Republicans a 25-to-11 advantage in the Congressional delegation.

The fate of the Texas 2012 map remained uncertain for weeks after the Supreme Court ruled in January that the San Antonio court overstepped its boundaries with its original proposal for an interim map. There are several seats at stake on the new Texas map, which increased by four House districts due to explosive population growth, mostly in the Hispanic community.

Texas officials were forced to delay their primary twice while maps worked their way through two separate court systems. The San Antonio court released a revised interim map just in time for both parties to hold their primary on May 29.

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Texas Redistricting: Deal or No Deal?

Rep. Francisco "Quico" Canseco would get a boost under Texas' latest redistricting plan, because his 23rd district would get more Republican. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

The Texas attorney general announced both parties reached a compromise map in the Texas redistricting case today — hours before the court-mandated deadline to keep the April 3 primary.

But the majority of the plaintiffs say there’s no compromise yet, and a federal court in San Antonio suggested it agrees.

Texas will pick up four House seats in 2012 because of population growth, mostly in the Hispanic community.

Lone Star State GOP lawmakers passed an aggressive new Congressional map last year, but the plan has been stuck in court as the state seeks pre-clearance approval under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.

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