Highlighted Districts
Virginia’s 7th
Illinois 13th
Texas 24th
Minnesota’s 7th
Our continuing coverage of races to watch in the House of Representatives brings us to Virginia’s 7th district, currently held by democrat Abigail Spanberger. The 7th district of Virginia, covering the suburban areas outside of Richmond and Charlottesville, as well as more rural areas, had been in Republican control since 1971 until Spanberger’s win in 2018. Spanberger beat then-incumbent Dave Brat in a tightly contested race, winning by about 7,000 votes, and about 2.5 percentage points. Spanberger has been a loyal member of the democratic party, voting in favor of both impeachment claims brought against the president. Spanberger’s opponent is to be chosen by a primary on July 18th, where it seems that the race is very open. FiveThirtyEight currently rates the district as 6.5 points in the republicans favor, so Spanberger will be betting on another strong “blue wave” of democratic support as she pushes through this tough battle to maintain control of her seat in VA-07.
In Illinois 13th district, Republican incumbent Rodney Davis faces a challenge from Democrat Betsy Dirksen Londrigan, a rematch of a narrow Davis win in 2018. Davis has held the seat since 2012, and has had several close races and is vulnerable again this election cycle. Davis holds a slight edge in fundraising, but beyond that, most major political report has deemed the race a toss-up. Davis is seen as a more moderate Republican and has been more critical of President Trump than many other Republicans. However, he did vote against both articles of impeachment, showing that there is still a significant amount of party loyalty in his DNA. Dirksen Londrigan graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and has worked for Teach For America and multiple non-profits within central Illinois. History shows that these two candidates are neck-in-neck, with plenty more race still to be run.
In Texas’s 24th congressional district, the race is wide open, as Republican incumbent Kenny Marchant has chosen not to run for re-election. The Republican nomination has already been decided, with former Mayor of Irving, TX, Beth Van Duyne, running to maintain control of the seat. Van Duyne completed two terms as mayor before moving on to work as a regional administrator for the Department of Housing and Urban Development under President Trump. The democratic nomination has yet to be decided, as a runoff is necessary to choose a candidate. Kim Olson won a plurality of the vote, but Candace Valenzuela was about 6,000 votes behind, setting up a runoff for the nomination. Olson seems the likelier victor of the two candidates, as she has a much more substantial financial backing. However, Valenzuela secured an endorsement from Kamala Harris, showing that this race isn’t over by any means. Regardless of the victor in the primary, the polls suggest that the district is a toss-up, so the Republicans face a difficult test to maintain control of their seat.
Minnesota’s 7th district is one of the largest geographic districts in the nation, currently held by Democrat Colin Peterson. This is one of the most interesting districts to predict, partially because they’ve had such odd voting behaviors in the past two major election cycles. The district fell overwhelmingly to Trump, by almost 31 points, but was also held by Colin Peterson, and has been since 1991. Peterson is more moderate than many democratic colleagues, which may explain in part how he has held onto his seat so long. Peterson was one of two democrats to vote against the articles of impeachment for President Trump. Regardless, Peterson faces a challenge, most likely from Dave Hughes, who Peterson defeated narrowly in 2018. A sneaky challenge may come from former Lieutenant Governor Michelle Fischbach, who is second only to Peterson in fundraising. Either Republican candidate will mount a strong bid, but Peterson will lean on his 29 years of service to bolster his campaign.
The democratic candidates websites will be linked down below if any readers would like to learn more about their campaigns. This tumultuous campaign season is just getting started, and we will have all the coverage here at U.S. Resist News.
Abigail Spanberger: https://abigailspanberger.com
Betsy Dirksen Londrigan: https://www.betsydirksenlondrigan.com
Kim Olson: https://kimforcongress.org
Candace Valenzuela: https://candacefor24.com
Colin Peterson: https://www.petersonforcongress.com