Unless you live in a red state or red district,

[MineralMan]

your Democratic candidate for most offices will not be in any way anti-choice. At this time, we have only about 6 Democrats in Congress (both houses) who have expressed anything other than absolutely full support for pro-choice issues. The rest pretty much all have 100% scores from NARAL.

One of those few is Colin Peterson, a House rep from Minnesota. I don't support him for re-election, and hope a strong moderate Democrat who is 100% pro-choice runs against him in the primary. It will have to be a moderate, because the district elects Republicans for everything else.

The district is far from me, so I won't be doing much of anything there next year. It's not my district, so I won't be able to vote there, either. We have a couple of other districts that are currently held by Republicans. I hope we can flip those, though, in 2018. But, if Colin Peterson, the incumbent in his district runs, he will probably win the primary and the general election, as well. A challenger who beats him in the primary will have a very tough job winning in November. it would be more likely for the district to flip to Republican.

I'd like to have a Democrat in that district, as I would in any other. Aside from his pro-life positions, Peterson votes with the Democratic Caucus in the House most of the time. If a Republican wins there, that Republican will never vote with the Democratic Caucus. That's the trade-off, really. However, even though I live in Minnesota, I have absolutely no influence in that district, any more than if it was located in Alabama. I can't affect how the vote goes there. So, we'll either end up with a Democrat who isn't strongly pro-choice or a Republican as the representative after the 2018 election. Frankly, I'd prefer a Democrat.

[Leith]

1. Some Districts Just Don't Have the Option

The Democrat may be anti-choice, but the rethug definitely will be anti-choice. It comes down to getting half a loaf or none.

Once the Democrat is in office, constituents can work on telling the officeholder how to vote.

I don't view this as capitulation. It is pragmatic. It's doing your best with what is available.

[MineralMan]

2. Yes. In reality, Colin Peterson, the rep from that district

votes solidly with the Democratic Caucus almost all of the time. Thus, he is an asset to us, except for a few issues, where he is likely to swing to the right in some cases. As you say, the Republican will be on the opposing side every time.

The politics of that district are such that no truly progressive Democrat would have a chance of winning. Peterson continues to win because he does stuff that helps that district's agricultural community, which is the primary sector there. He can probably win again in 2018. He says he's running. I doubt there will be a challenger for the Democratic endorsement.

And there it is. I can't do anything about it. Nobody outside of that district can do anything about it. I hope a Democrat goes to DC from that district. We need all of the Democrats we can get to help us attain and hold a majority in the House. We can't lose any of the Democratic incumbents without hurting our chances of a majority.

Hobson's Choice.