1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:24,400 Hello everyone, my name is Frank Driscoll and welcome to Driscoll's election dissection, 2 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:27,000 your election analysis for Across the Circus. 3 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:30,200 I hope you all are doing well today wherever you are. 4 00:00:30,200 --> 00:00:36,200 So at this point a lot of states have started early voting or mail-in voting depending on 5 00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:37,280 where you live. 6 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:40,080 So a lot of you out there probably got your ballots already. 7 00:00:40,080 --> 00:00:42,560 But if you're not ready to vote just yet, that's okay. 8 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:47,080 You know there are plenty of decisions to make, plenty of local races, federal races, 9 00:00:47,080 --> 00:00:51,860 presidential races, even some measures across your city or state. 10 00:00:51,860 --> 00:00:53,680 So there's still time to think about it. 11 00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:55,280 Vote the best way you can. 12 00:00:55,280 --> 00:00:56,280 Vote with your head. 13 00:00:56,280 --> 00:01:00,280 You know, think about everything that's up for grabs and go from there. 14 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:04,320 So since there's still time, we'll talk a little bit about the elections in the US House 15 00:01:04,320 --> 00:01:05,320 of Representatives. 16 00:01:05,320 --> 00:01:11,280 Specifically, the races that could determine which party holds the chamber on January 3rd 17 00:01:11,280 --> 00:01:12,280 of 2025. 18 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:17,800 Actually, before we do that, I would like to make an update and it kind of shows how 19 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:21,160 fascinating these few weeks in between the elections are. 20 00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:25,400 We talked about last week the Senate races, the state of Wisconsin Senate race between 21 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:29,720 Tammy Baldwin and Eric Huff was a lean Democratic race. 22 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:33,160 Well just recently the Cook PVI put it on to toss up. 23 00:01:33,160 --> 00:01:36,120 So now it's now a toss up race just like Michigan and Ohio. 24 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:40,440 And it just goes to show you how we're only a month away from the election and things 25 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:42,520 could change so quickly. 26 00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:45,720 So if there are any more updates, I'll be sure to add them here on the show. 27 00:01:45,720 --> 00:01:52,840 So there are a lot of House races, 435 to be exact, and a lot of them are more competitive 28 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:53,840 than others. 29 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:56,360 And a lot of them are actually already finished before they even begin. 30 00:01:56,360 --> 00:02:02,720 So we're only talking about toss ups on the Cook PVI, not lean races or likely races, 31 00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:03,880 just toss ups. 32 00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:07,080 And it's kind of a rapid fire because we have a good number to talk about. 33 00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:12,240 So we'll start today with the Democratic seats that are toss up for the US House elections. 34 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:19,560 Now as of this taping, there are 12 toss up elections in seats held by Democrats. 35 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:24,160 So the Republicans are spending a lot of money on these specific races as many of them have 36 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:29,680 very even voting blocks or swinginess depending on the state or counties there are. 37 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:33,680 So the Republicans really want to win these and the Democrats really want to keep them. 38 00:02:33,680 --> 00:02:35,380 So let's take a look at them, shall we? 39 00:02:35,380 --> 00:02:39,240 So we're not going to do a lot of talks about polling and talks about fundraising. 40 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:41,760 We're just going to go through each one as we go along. 41 00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:45,080 We've done a few rapid fire shows, you know, you've seen how they are. 42 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:47,780 And we'll go alphabetically here. 43 00:02:47,780 --> 00:02:52,320 So we'll start with the last frontier, the state of Alaska. 44 00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:58,000 Now the current representative for Alaska's at-large congressional district is Democrat 45 00:02:58,000 --> 00:02:59,000 Mary Peltola. 46 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:04,360 Yes, Alaska is an at-large congressional seat, meaning the entire state comes out and vote. 47 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:10,660 Her main opponent in the election is software executive Nick Beckage III. 48 00:03:10,660 --> 00:03:14,840 And bear in mind, Trump won Alaska back in 2020 and is likely to win the state. 49 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:18,320 So that may help Beckage in his run for Congress. 50 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:22,720 Next we head to the Centennial State, the state of Colorado, specifically Colorado's 51 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:24,440 eighth congressional district. 52 00:03:24,440 --> 00:03:29,160 The current representative is Democrat Yadera Caraveo and they're facing off against state 53 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:31,360 representative Gabe Evans. 54 00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:36,840 From there we head to the pine tree state, the state of Maine, specifically Maine's second 55 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:38,200 congressional district. 56 00:03:38,200 --> 00:03:42,440 The current representative is Democrat Jared Golden and he is facing off against state 57 00:03:42,440 --> 00:03:45,800 representative and former NASCAR driver Austin Terrio. 58 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:52,240 And for the next state we have two toss-up races in Democratic seats, not one, but two. 59 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:56,160 So we head to the Great Lakes state, the state of Michigan. 60 00:03:56,160 --> 00:03:59,520 First we go to Michigan's seventh congressional district. 61 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:05,000 The current representative is Democrat Elissa Slotkin, who is not running for reelection. 62 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:07,880 She's running for Senate, as you may remember from last week. 63 00:04:07,880 --> 00:04:12,840 Well the Democratic candidate is former state senator Curtis Hurtell and the Republican 64 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:17,200 candidate is another former state senator, Tom Barrett. 65 00:04:17,200 --> 00:04:22,160 And then we head, not that far off, to Michigan's eighth congressional district. 66 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:26,360 And the current representative is Democrat Dan Kildee, who is retiring at the end of 67 00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:27,360 his term. 68 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:32,240 The Democratic nominee is state senator Kirsten McDonald Rivett and the Republican nominee 69 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:36,440 is former USCIS official Paul Junch. 70 00:04:36,440 --> 00:04:41,480 Next we head to the land of enchantment, the state of New Mexico, specifically New Mexico's 71 00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:46,800 second congressional district, where incumbent Democratic representative Gabe Vasquez is 72 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:50,040 facing former Congresswoman Yvette Harrell. 73 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:55,080 Next we head to the Tar Heels state, the state of North Carolina, specifically North Carolina's 74 00:04:55,080 --> 00:04:59,920 first congressional district, where incumbent Democratic representative Don Davis is facing 75 00:04:59,920 --> 00:05:03,520 consulting firm owner Lori Buckhout. 76 00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:09,640 Next we head to the Buckeyes state, the state of Ohio, specifically Ohio's 13th congressional 77 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:15,280 district, where incumbent Democratic representative Amelia Sykes is facing former state senator 78 00:05:15,280 --> 00:05:16,880 Kevin Coughlin. 79 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:22,520 And next, our second state with two toss-up races with Democratic incumbents, we head to 80 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:25,720 the Keystone state, the state of Pennsylvania. 81 00:05:25,720 --> 00:05:30,680 First we head to Pennsylvania's seventh congressional district, where incumbent Democratic representative 82 00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:34,600 Susan Wild is facing state representative Ryan McKenzie. 83 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:40,000 And next we head not that far off to Pennsylvania's eighth congressional district, where incumbent 84 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:45,100 Democratic representative Matt Cartwright is facing businessman Rob Bresnahan. 85 00:05:45,100 --> 00:05:50,840 Now we head to the old dominion, the state of Virginia, specifically Virginia's seventh 86 00:05:50,840 --> 00:05:52,000 congressional district. 87 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:57,080 The current incumbent representative is Democrat Abigail Spanberger, who is retiring at the 88 00:05:57,080 --> 00:06:01,160 end of her term to focus on her run for Virginia's governor next year. 89 00:06:01,160 --> 00:06:06,240 The Democratic nominee is retired army colonel Eugene Vindman, and the Republican nominee 90 00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:08,460 is attorney Derek Anderson. 91 00:06:08,460 --> 00:06:13,960 And last but not least, we head to the Evergreen state, the state of Washington, specifically 92 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:18,760 Washington's third congressional district, where incumbent Democratic representative 93 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:24,520 Marie Glucin Camp Perez is facing off against tech project manager Joe Kent. 94 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:30,600 So those are the 12 elections that the Cook PVI says are a toss-up in Democratic-held 95 00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:34,080 seats, and they are ones to look at on election night. 96 00:06:34,080 --> 00:06:38,560 And these are all very important for Democratic supporters and Democratic voters as they want 97 00:06:38,560 --> 00:06:43,280 to get control of the House back after two years, since 2023. 98 00:06:43,280 --> 00:06:48,600 However, next week we will be talking about the Cook PVI toss-up races in races that are 99 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:50,840 currently held by Republicans. 100 00:06:50,840 --> 00:06:54,640 The races that the Republicans are spending a lot of money to keep hold, but the Democrats 101 00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:59,400 are spending a lot of money to possibly take, and hopefully take the majority, but the Republicans 102 00:06:59,400 --> 00:07:01,960 are hopefully trying to keep that majority. 103 00:07:01,960 --> 00:07:05,200 And remember, if you're willing to look more about elections in your neighborhood, be sure 104 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:09,920 to look at politicsone.com as well as ballotpedia.com, and if you're willing to look at recent polls, 105 00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:13,880 check out 538.com as well as realclearpolling.com. 106 00:07:13,880 --> 00:07:18,320 So we will talk about the Republican races next week, and as always I say, since ballots 107 00:07:18,320 --> 00:07:22,400 are starting to come out in many states, if you are a registered voter in any of the states 108 00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:27,760 mentioned in the show, or anywhere, I don't care who you vote for, but I do care that 109 00:07:27,760 --> 00:07:28,760 you vote. 110 00:07:28,760 --> 00:07:29,760 So please do. 111 00:07:29,760 --> 00:07:30,760 Thank you all for tuning in. 112 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:34,800 If you'd like to learn more about the show, go online to aldridproductions.com slash across 113 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:38,560 the circus and be sure to listen to us on any podcasting form you like. 114 00:07:38,560 --> 00:08:04,560 Thank you all for listening, and I will see you all very soon. 115 00:08:09,560 --> 00:09:34,240 This Episode was brought to you by Algid Productions LLC. 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