So Paul Gosar won because no one ran against him!

[Maraya1969]

How the hell did that happen?

I know that rethuglicans go around getting people to run in certain districts so that they can pick up seats. Why aren't the Dems doing that???

Maybe I am missing something?

[LeftInTX]

1. His seat is probably not competitive.

[dchill]

2. It's a district that repeatedly elects...

...Paul Gosar, so...

[AZSkiffyGeek]

3. Wrong

Paul Gosar won because he's in a racist corner of Arizona. No one ran against him because it would be a waste of time.
I'm more upset that no one ran against Debbie Lesko, that one may have been more competitive, but probably not.

[Claustrum]

4. Um... that's like saying no republican ran in AOC's seat

No republican will win in that seat.

[Tetrachloride]

5. Every race should be contested

In the movie, American President, the character played by Michael J Fox says: the other guy is doing all the talking because none of the good guys are at the microphone.

Red propaganda spreads because not enough Dems are fighting.

[kimbutgar]

6. My husbands niece lives in that area and it is blood crazy racist red

When we visited her we got looked at strangely because we didn’t look like degenerates.

[GoCubsGo]

11. Yeah, it's full extremist militia types.

My brother is retired law enforcement. When it came out that Michael Fortier, one of Tim McVeigh's co-conspirators, was from Kingman, which is in Gosar's district, my brother was totally unsurprised. He said Kingman is one of biggest centers of the illegal gun trade. At least it was back then. I doubt things have changed. Loads of cray-cray there. They probably put targets on Democrats, it's that nuts there.

[dembotoz]

7. i live in a non competitive district. everybody knows you are the sacrificial lamb

You need cash to run a campaign. where do you get it from?
you might get sympathy contribution....but folks want to give where it might make a difference.
So you might get a token but the money will go elsewhere.
Had a friend of mine run for congress a few years back....for congress...not state office...Congress...the state party would not even return his phone calls...(believe that has changed somewhat but i do not have proof.
Then practical stuff like getting signatures to get on the ballot.
won't get a lot of help there.....

like the maytag repairman.....

You need a stronger ego than i have....
Treasure those folks who do stand up

[2naSalit]

8. With any luck...

Whateverthefuck his affliction is, I hope it kills him real soon.

[mcar]

9. I live in a non competitive district

It is very difficult to get sacrificial lamb Democrats to run but our local Democratic party works very hard to do so. Still, some of the incumbents are elected without opposition.

We've had some measure of success running our people in non-partisan races. One person was just reelected to the mosquito control board and we had a surprise City Council win.

We did have someone running for congress. She is a terrific person and campaign tirelessly but never had a prayer in this district. It leads to the question: do I donate my limited funds to her or spend it elsewhere on someone who has a chance? I tried to do both but it's a difficult issue.

[BComplex]

10. In our small area, people who are obviously republicans run on the democratic ticket and win.

Infiltrators. Sheriff, Clerk of Court, etc.

Democrats in areas such as that should just register as republicans and take over. Plus, they'll get lots of $$ from their state republican parties, like they did here.

[Doc Sportello]

12. Solid candidate David Brill ran in 2018 and got 30 percent of the vote

Dr. Brill, a former VA administrator, ran a good campaign that I volunteered for even though I knew he didn't have much of a chance and with little outside support. So it was mostly his own money and some volunteers. Still I was kind of shocked at the result. Unless one is a millionaire with money to burn, I can't blame them for not running.

[Gimble]

13. the same crap goes on in Texas

For years in my county there have always been numerous positions on the ballot with only a Republican candidate, no Democrat. The Democratic party here focuses heavily on GOTV and does reasonably well at it from time to time. But if you don't put up candidates for Democratic voters to elect, what's the point of spending all that energy on GOTV? I had a long conversation in 2020 with our Democratic county chair (she cold-called me during a GOTV push). We talked about a number of things and I expressed my concern about the persistent lack of Democratic candidates. Her response was to suggest that I run for an office. I can understand why she responded that way, but I think it just proves my point about the lack of strategic recruiting. She didn't know me from Adam and here she is, suggesting that I run for office.

For decades, all across the nation, the Republicans have been focusing on fielding candidates up and down the ballot, from city dog catcher all the way up to POTUS. It has paid off for them. They now have control in many towns, cities, counties and states. Through that control they have placed themselves in a position to be able to increase their control using processes like gerrymandering, court packing (at all levels), and basically flooding the zone with Republican presence.

IMHO, we need to do the same thing rather than just focusing on the brass ring (POTUS). Yes, it will take time and will be difficult, but we're not going to get there by just hoping that good candidates will step up and run for an office. I think it takes aggressive recruiting of well qualified candidates in order to be successful on election day. The Democratic party here likes to say that Texas is turning blue. Don't bet on it. My take-away from my conversation with the county party chair was that the Democratic party in Texas is a disorganized clusterf**k. It looks to me like the Democratic party in this state is comprised of bunch of little fiefdoms trying to hang on to their own little chunk of power and money. Not working together, not pulling in the same direction. But what do I know, I'm just another Democratic voter with an opinion.

I recently retired, so I now have time to get more involved. Hopefully I can pitch in and provide some useful help. But not as a candidate (that would be a disaster, lol).