DAY TWENTY - JOSH HARDER
Day Twenty | Josh Harder | CA-10
465 Sawbuck Patriots | $5290 pledged today | $112,085 donated overall
Team:
THE SITUATION: Two years ago, CA-10 had - as best as these things can be determined - the most volunteers in a Congressional race, ever. Why? It's a working-class district, where 84% of the adult population don't have a college degree, and with lots of rural farmland - no, that doesn't sound exactly like a recipe for activism.
Here's why. In 2018, SF Bay Area folks didn't waste their time walking precincts for Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Lee, Jackie Speier, Jared Huffman, Swalwell, Garamendi, DeSaulnier, etc... those districts weren't competitive. So what was a committed activist desirous of flipping the House to do? Find the closest flippable district to their deep-blue San Francisco Bay Area, arrange a carpool, and drive for a couple of hours to walk precincts where we might actually do some good.
And good we did. I was in the brigade two years ago, driving to Modesto (and Tracy and Manteca and other Stanislaus/San Joaquin destinations) on three weekends to knock on doors and explain why I felt our D would be better for the district than the incumbent R. (I swear, some weekends it was like the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee was holding its meetings in the parking lot of our candidate's HQ - lots of SF expats got to enjoy Modesto as an inadvertent tour group.)
This district is politically TOUGH - even with all the volunteers, the D barely eked out a victory. It's pretty conservative, and here's proof: remember the Governor's race in 2018, where Gavin Newsom beat the Republican whose name you ALREADY don't remember because it was such a thumping, by twenty-four points? (His name is John Cox. You're welcome.) Yeah. In 2018, this district voted for Cox. And in this year's primary, the Republicans took home a majority of this district's votes in the primary.
So '18 was a big, hard-won, unexpected victory. The smart forecasters are calling this year's race as a close one. And because the volunteer brigade won't happen during C-19, the Harder campaigns needs all the backstopping they can get to keep CA-10 in the D column.
THE COMPETITION: Oh, man.
Ted Howze is making "border security" the #1 issue in his campaign. (Really. Check out his website and his videos; it's front and center in all, and frequently listed first.) Is he doing this because the Central Valley of California is near any borders? Nah. As the crow flies, it's 418 miles from Modesto to Tijuana. (I checked.) Is it because the borders in the Central Valley aren't secure? (Narrator voice: "Uh, no. There aren't any borders in the Central Valley.")
So is it because this district is about forty percent Latinx, and he might be attempting to stir up racial resentment amongst the white population? I mean, I should tread carefully here, because it's not nice to just wildly call people racial-resentment-stirrers (except for Iowa Congressman Steve King, who you are required to just flat-out call racist, because, um, he's a racist). So before I call Ted Howze a fellow who stirs up racial resentment, I should have some other evidence, shouldn't I?
Yes.
Earlier this year, Ted Howze had a bit of a scandal, when some old social media posts of his resurfaced, including the ones where
he said Rep. Maxine Waters was "hitting the crack pipe"
he called an Islamic religious figure a "rapist" and a "pedophile"
he demanded Dreamers depart the US, with the hashtag "#DeportThemAll"
There were others, as well, where he alleged that Hillary Clinton was guilty of the murder of a Congressional staffer, and where he made fun of a Parkland shooting survivor. And still more, but you get the gist.
And when these came to light, he delightfully denied responsibility, blaming the postings on some unknown other people who somehow got access to his accounts. Which is an excellent defense, because who amongst us hasn't gone to our social media, seen racist posts from ourselves sitting there next to our family vacation photos, and has decided "cool cool no need to delete those crazy posts on my page that someone else who is clearly not me wrote on my page and are attributed to me - I guess I'll just leave those be for fourteen months or so until I run for Congress." And then, when the press calls to ask about it, tell the press they're - that's right, you've got it - FAKE NEWS.
Sherlock Holmes doesn't need to be called in to crack this case...
(And as a bonus, he's a climate change denier, for the zero of you who hadn't recoiled from this description already.)
OUR CANDIDATE: He's not Ted Howze. That's all you really need to know. (But let's do this anyway.)
Josh Harder, the incumbent, is a smart and tough and hard-working guy who was born right here in Turlock. He's worked in venture capital; he's also worked at Modesto Junior College, where he taught business. In his first term in Congress, he introduced 16 bills, and his amendment to the COVID-19 relief package guaranteed two weeks of paid sick leave for employees of small businesses. He doesn't take corporate PAC money. I'd run through a list of his positions on various issues, but a) trust me, he's solidly in the D caucus with his votes and his positions, b) I've already gone on long enough, and c) see Ted Howze above.
And in addition to being really sharp, Josh is a friendly, engaging, earnest guy - I've seen him speak and broken bread with him a few times (OK, spilled coffee?), and while he's a fantastic candidate, portions of his district aren't exactly super-aligned with his politics. So he and his team have to Work Harder.
THE MATH SAYS HE CAN WIN.
Sawbuck Patriots, it’s go time: click HERE and send $10 (or more!) to the campaign of the candidate who isn't Ted Howze. Our collective effort will invest $5290 today.
And importantly: Happy Birthday, Pam Harder! That's Josh's wife, and she's great. And I'm a day late in wishing her a happy birthday, but ... a bunch of sawbucks headed to help her husband keep his job may serve as an adequate start of an apology for my tardiness.
Day twenty: Josh Harder | CA-10 | 465 Sawbuck Patriots | $5290 | DONATE
Day nineteen: Theresa Greenfield | Iowa Senate | 452 Sawbuck Patriots | $4835 | DONATE
Day eighteen: Hiral Tipirneni | AZ-06 | 441 Sawbuck Patriots | $4975 | DONATE
Day seventeen: Ricky Hurtado | NC Statehouse | 430 Sawbuck Patriots | $5495 | DONATE
Day sixteen: Kara Eastman | NE-02 | 420 Sawbuck Patriots | $4730 | DONATE
Day fifteen: Abby Finkenauer | IA-01 | 410 Sawbuck Patriots | $4790 | DONATE
Day fourteen: Carolyn Bourdeaux | GA-07 | 404 Sawbuck Patriots | $5235 | DONATE
Day thirteen: Biden/Harris | the Presidency | 401 Sawbuck Patriots | $28,630 | DONATE
Day twelve: Joe Cunningham | SC-01 | 390 Sawbuck Patriots | $4445 | DONATE
Day eleven: Doug Jones | Alabama Senate | 363 Sawbuck Patriots | $5170 | DONATE
Day ten: Kendra Horn | OK-05 | 348 Sawbuck Patriots | $3990 | DONATE
Day nine: Princess Bride Reunion | Wisconsin | 334 Sawbuck Patriots | $4680 | DONATE
Day eight: Cristina Hale | IN-05 | 324 Sawbuck Patriots | $3745 | DONATE
Day seven: Wendy Davis | TX-21 | 311 Sawbuck Patriots | $4180| DONATE
Day six: Xochitl Torres Small | NM-02 | 293 Sawbuck Patriots | $3535 | DONATE
day five: Mark Kelly | Arizona Senate | 268 Sawbuck Patriots | $4875 | DONATE
day four: Brynne Kennedy | CA-4 | 239 Sawbuck Patriots | $3185 | DONATE
day three: Max Rose | NY-11 | 208 Sawbuck Patriots | $2770 | DONATE
day two: Sara Gideon | Maine Senate | 161 Sawbuck Patriots | $3350 | DONATE
day one: Candace Valenzuela | TX-24 | 109 Sawbuck Patriots | $2025 | DONATE