U.S. Congress

Meet the Candidates: Winners of the Congressionals Primaries in Minnesota and Wisconsin

For full information, including candidates, click on a state's name

By Congresspedia assistant editor Avelino Maestas

Our wrap-up of Tuesday’s primary elections is pretty hefty, so we've split it into three parts; you can find results from Minnesota and Wisconsin in this post. Remember, we have a full list of candidates after the break, including the professions of all the challengers. You can find the candidates from New England at the Delaware, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont portals and at the New England wrap up, and mid-Atlantic candidates at the District of Columbia and New York portals and at the mid-Atlantic wrap up.

Minnesota
Al Franken (D) and Sen. Norm Coleman (R) easily dispatched the competition in their respective parties’ primary elections on Tuesday. Coleman, at one time behind Franken in polling, has opened a lead over the actor/comedian. Both candidates are performing well on the fundraising front, in what has become a high-visibility contest on the national level. A half-dozen candidates from other parties will join Coleman and Franken on the November ballot.

Unopposed in their respective primaries, Democrat Jigar Ashwin Madia and Republican Erik Paulsen are preparing for the general election in Minnesota’s 3rd congressional district. Incumbent Rep. Jim Ramstad (R) is retiring at the end of the 110th Congress.

There are a couple of freshman incumbents in Minnesota being targeted by the opposition. In CD-01, Republican Brian Davis is challenging Rep. Timothy Walz (D). Meanwhile, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R) is trying to hold off a Elwyn Tinklenberg (D).

Wisconsin
In the 1st congressional district, Rep. Paul Ryan (R) was unopposed Tuesday, and Marge Krupp beat out two other Democrats for the shot to challenge the incumbent. Most of the incumbents appear to be favored for victory in the general election, though freshman Rep. Steve Kagen is facing a rematch of the 2006 election: he narrowly defeated Republican John Gard in that contest.

As part of Congresspedia's Wiki the Vote project, citizen journalists from around the country (and even some candidates!) have been logging information about the candidates' positions, biographies and records. A full list of the candidates and their professions are below, but you can also find them at their respective state portals via the Wiki the Vote project homepage. We need your help to find out more about these candidates, so if you know something about them please add it to their profile. (You can always contact one of the staff editors for help.)

Meet the Candidates: Winners of the Congressionals Primaries in the District of Columbia and New York

For full information, including candidates, click on a state's name

By Congresspedia Assistant Editor Avelino Maestas

Our wrap-up of Tuesday’s primary elections is pretty hefty, so we've split it into three parts; you can find results from the District of Columbia and New York in this post. Remember, we have a full list of candidates after the break, including job info for all the challengers. You can find the candidates from New England at the Delaware, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont portals and at the New England wrap up, and midwestern candidates at the Minnesota and Wisconsin portals and at the midwestern wrap up.

District of Columbia
Rep. Eleanor Holmes-Norton (D), the District’s non-voting delegate to Congress, is unopposed by major party candidates. One member of DC’s “shadow” delegation (positions created by a failed bid for statehood) faces opposition. Shadow Senator Paul Strauss (D), who defeated Philip Pannell in Tuesday’s election, will face Republican Nelson F. Rimensnyder in November.

Mike Panetta (D), the shadow representative, is unopposed.

New York
There are quite a few open House seats this year, including that of Rep. Vito Fossella (R) in the13th congressional district. He is retiring at the end of the 110th Congress, following his driving-while-intoxicated arrest in May. In November, Michael McMahon (D), a member of the New York City Council, is up against Robert Straniere (R), a former state legislator.

Another open seat is in the 21st congressional district, where Rep. Mike McNulty is retiring. Republicans in the district nominated James Buhrmaster, while Paul Tonko (D) will try to hold the district for New York Democrats.

In the 25th and 26th districts, Reps. Jim Walsh and Tom Reynolds are also retiring. Dan Maffei, a Democrat, is challenging Dale Sweetland (R) for Walsh’s seat in CD-05. In the 26th congressional district, Alice Kryzan bested several other Democrats for the nomination; she’ll face Chris Lee come November.

As part of Congresspedia's Wiki the Vote project, citizen journalists from around the country (and even some candidates!) have been logging information about the candidates' positions, biographies and records. A full list of the candidates and their professions are below, but you can also find them at their respective state portals via the Wiki the Vote project homepage. We need your help to find out more about these candidates, so if you know something about them please add it to their profile. (You can always contact one of the staff editors for help.)

Meet the candidates: Eight states holding congressional primaries today

(For a full list of candidates, see the Delaware, District of Columbia, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin portals.)

By Congresspedia assistant editor Avelino Maestas

It’s almost like Super Tuesday again: seven states and the District of Columbia are holding primary elections today. The races in some states are perfunctory, with little or no opposition for incumbents, while other districts are hotly contested. Either way, today's races will set up some of the most important match-ups in November, and our citizen-journalists have been tracking them on Congresspedia.

Delaware
Vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden is up for re-election this year. There are no other Democrats challenging him for the Senate seat, and Republican Christine O'Donnell is also unopposed. Meanwhile, two Democrats are battling for the chance to challenge at-large Rep. Mike Castle (R).

District of Columbia
In 1982, in a bid for statehood, District residents approved what would have been a state constitution, and called for the election of a shadow representative and two shadow senators, who would assume office in Congress if statehood was granted.

Residents continue to elect shadow senators and a shadow representative (in addition to the non-voting delegate. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), the delegate, is unopposed today, as is shadow representative Mike Panetta (D). Incumbent shadow senator Paul Strauss, a Democrat, is being challenged by Philip Pannell in today’s primary.

Click through for previews of primaries in the other states.

Meet the candidates: Winners of the congressional primaries in Arizona

(For a full list of candidates, see the Arizona portal.)

By Congresspedia assistant editor Avelino Maestas

There were no surprises in Arizona on Tuesday, with the front-runners obtaining victories in the state’s congressional primary elections. Half of Arizona’s eight seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are considered competitive, and the goal for Republicans is to prevent Democrats from flipping any of the four GOP-held seats. The best chance for Democrats is likely in the 1st congressional district, where indicted Rep. Rick Renzi (R) is not seeking re-election.

For CD-01, the November ballot will feature former state Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D), who easily won her party’s nomination, and Sydney Hay, a lobbyist for Arizona’s mining industry. Kirkpatrick has an advantage with fundraising, but Hay has accused the Democrat of having no legislative accomplishments and of being "wrong" on the issues.

In other races, former Maricopa County treasurer David Schweikert secured the GOP nomination in the race of Republican candidates looking to unseat Democratic Rep. Harry Mitchell in the 5th district. Meanwhile, in the 6th CD, Rebecca Schneider won the Democratic nomination to challenge Rep. Jeff Flake in the general election.

Meet the Candidates: Winners of Alaska's Congressional Primaries

The Alaskan primary has gone well beyond down to the wire, as Rep. Don Young (R) waits to hear whether the absentee and "question ballots" counted on September 5th will maintain his 152 vote lead (out of 93,544 cast) over Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell. The winner will face former State Rep. Ethan Berkowitz, who won the Democratic nomination.

Ted Stevens, meanwhile, easily batted away his Republican challengers and will face Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich on the Democratic side, as well as Libertarian David Haase, Veterans Party of Alaska candidate Ted Gianoutsos and Alaska Independence candidate Bob Bird.

Know something about any of these candidates? Join the other citizens, activists and candidates contributing information to their Congresspedia profiles. You can get started at the Alaska portal or contact one of the staff editors for help.

Meet the candidates: Congressional primaries in Arizona today

(For a full list of candidates, see the Arizona portal.)

By Congresspedia assistant editor Avelino Maestas

Arizonans head to the polls today for a number of local and federal primary races, while Sen. John McCain is in St. Paul preparing to receive the GOP nomination for president during the Republican National Convention. And though he’s in the national spotlight, Arizona Republicans are hoping he can help out in done-ballot races come November. With one open seat (due to the retirement of Republican Rep. Rick Renzi) and several other contested races, Arizona will factor heavily in the battle for control of Congress this year.

Open seats usually attract a large number of candidates, and Renzi’s seat in the 1st congressional district is no exception. Congresspedia’s citizen-journalists have identified four Democrats and five Republicans vying for the general election ballot. For the GOP, Barry Hall, Tom Hansen, Sydney Hay, Preston Korn and Sandra Livingstone are in the running. Hay has name recognition from the 2000 primary and a fundraising advantage, but Livingstone drew the support (and endorsements) of some prominent Republicans in the district. The winner will likely face Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick, a former state lawmaker, in the November general election.

There are two other contested primaries in Arizona today, in the 5th and 6th districts.

Members of Congress using Twitter: 30+ and still counting

By Congresspedia assistant editor Avelino Maestas

Congresspedia was launched as a project that would enable Americans to participate in government, by researching and writing about their elected representatives and the lawmaking process. Bridging the divide between lawmakers and their constituents, through the use of technology, has been a central goal.

There are, of course, other resources where this connection is happening, and one that caught our attention lately is Twitter. The popular microblogging site allows users to post short, 140-character status updates, messages and announcements. Those following a user can receive an instant notification when that person "tweets."

Lately, more and more members of Congress have started using the service. Some have adopted it for campaign purposes (see Sen. Barack Obama) while others are using Twitter to inform their constituents about developments in Congress. For example, Rep. John Culberson was one of the first members to "tweet" from the floor of the House of Representatives.

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