The Nation has this article by Russell Mokhiber. The article advocates that Nation readers think seriously about running for state legislative seats. To encourage this, the article tells the story of Jonathan Kreiss-Tompkins, a 24-year-old Democrat who was elected to the Alaska legislature in 2012, in a district in which the incumbent had been perceived by observers as someone who could not be defeated. The larger point of Mokhiber’s piece is to emphasize how many legislative districts there are with those characteristics around the U.S., and to encourage activists to run to win. A few of the facts in the article originated with data first published in Ballot Access News.
P.R. and nonpartisan App.V.
In Arizona last year, nearly a third of all legislative seats were uncontested by one of the two major parties. I feel as if I am flogging a dead cactus, but next year, anyone can be a candidate of the Americans Elect party merely by registering with the party as a voter, filing a one page notarized statement of write-in candidacy for the office with the state, and getting a plurality of the votes in the Americans Elect primary (one vote is enough to get the nomination).
If all the people who comment on websites like this about how they would like to change things in politics actually tried to become candidates — and in Arizona, it’s currently easier than most states — we’d see a lot more contested races and would at least hold some of our state legislators more accountable.
Demo Rep, you comment here a lot. Have you ever considered becoming a candidate yourself?
The problem is, you can’t run for public office under a screen name.
The Nation article is grossly inaccurate. I would think that Ballot Access News might want to be more circumspect about being claimed as a source of facts in an otherwise fact-devoid article.
I suggest you rewrite your post:
“The Nation has this article by Russell Mokhiber. The article advocates that Nation readers think seriously about running for state legislative seats. To encourage this, the article tells the story of Jonathan Kreiss-Tompkins, a 24-year-old Democrat who was elected to the Alaska legislature in 2012.
While The Nation article is grossly inaccurate with respect to the election of Kreiss-Tompkins, the few actual facts in the article originated with data first published in Ballot Access News”
The incumbent, Bill Thomas had never been unopposed. In fact, when he was first elected in 2004 to replace a Democrat who was elected to the senate, the race required a recount. Prior to the election of Bill Thomas, the district had been solidly held by Democrats, some of whom had been unopposed.
The house district had been drastically modified in redistricting as the panhandle lost one of its house seats. Formerly, HD-5 had looped around the cities of Juneau, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Haines, Skagway, and Sitka to create a district with as many Alaskan Natives as possible. What was remarkable was the election of a Republican in 2004 and his ability to hold the district since then.
As the article noted, half of the new district HD-34 was in Sitka, where Kreiss-Tompkins lived. If not for redistricting, Kreiss-Tompkins could not have run in the district.
Obama carried the district with 57% of the vote, running 7% ahead of Kreiss-Tompkins. In 2008, McCain had barely carried (33 votes) HD-5 with a 49% plurality.
The article says that Kreiss-Tompkins did not know anyone in Angoon. The Democratic senator from the district, Albert Kookesh was from Angoon. He had moved to the senate in 2004, which enabled the Republican Bill Thomas to be narrowly elected in the first place.
Ironically, Kookesh was defeated in his senate re-election bid in 2012, done in by the same redistricting that had enabled Kreiss-Tompkins to be elected. While Kookesh had gained 75% of the vote in HD-5 (his former house district) in 2008, he only receive 41% of the vote in HD-34 in 2012.
The house and senate districts had been radically changed in a way that was disfavorable to Alaska Natives and the incumbents, both of whom were defeated, and favorable to candidates from Sitka, both who were elected.
#2 The leftwing Donkeys have escalated their EVIL control freak stuff.
The entire gerrymander structures in the USA and State regimes are ANTI-Democracy.
The CRISIS NOW is much worse than in 1775-1776 or 1859-1861 or 1929-1932.
Being a candidate is being part of the EVIL gerrymander ROT.
I would like to direct Demo Rep and all others to our party’s latest press release:
Mesa, Ariz., Apr. 21 —
At the secret headquarters of the ballot-qualified Arizona Americans Elect Party today in Mesa, Richard Grayson announced his retirement as Supreme Leader of the Party. Grayson, 61, of Apache Junction, and the party’s candidate in 2012 for the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona’s Fourth Congressional District, will assume the new title of Artistic Director of the Americans Elect Party.
“Since our party’s inception a year ago, the Arizona Americans Elect Party has been the fastest-growing of the state’s five ballot-qualified parties, and we nudged the longstanding Green Party out of fourth place in 2012 in the votes received for candidates for Congress,” Grayson said in a statement. “I am proud that those accomplishments took place while I was the party’s Supreme Leader, but it is time to step down.”
The Arizona Americans Elect Party announced that Grayson would assume the new title of Artistic Director while remaining as Acting Supreme Leader until a new Supreme Leader is selected.
“By party tradition,” Grayson said, “the new Supreme Leader has to defeat the old Supreme Leader in combat of his or her choice. I am looking forward to a mixed martial arts contest with anyone who wishes to wrest total control of the party away from me.”
Grayson said that as Acting Supreme Leader and Artistic Director, he would spend the next few months working out and recruiting candidates to run on the Arizona Americans Elect Party banner for Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Treasurer, Education Commissioner, Corporation Commissioner, and for all the seats in the Arizona State Legislature and U.S. House Congressional delegation that are up in 2014.
“The Arizona Americans Elect Party will be stronger than ever in the next state election,” Grayson told voters, “and I expect to be stronger, too.”
He urged anyone any Arizona party members who want to be a 2014 Americans Elect candidate to prepare to run for office and any of them who want to be the party’s new permanent Supreme Leader to prepare to be rendered unconscious in a fair but brutal fight.
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