Jacob Turk, who in 2010, came within nine points of winning US Congressman Emanuel (Spittlegate) Cleaver’s seat in the deep blue 5th district in Missouri, tells me he is considering another run. The newly redrawn district has been extended to include some Republican leaning rural communities east of Kansas City. He’s making phone calls to his supporters in the district to query their opinions and garner support for another run. According to Turk, responses have been nothing but positive, and fund-raising pledges are off to a great start.
Turk, who’s never been an establishment favorite, was recently in Washington DC for a conservative conference with his wife, Donna, and had the opportunity to meet with some nationally known conservative groups who were willing lend some support to his campaign, support he didn’t see in 2010.
With 2012 looking like another unfavorable year for Democrats, and with District 5 newly redrawn to improve his chances, (slightly), and with more support then ever, my question was, what’s stopping you?
He’ll be making a decision, next week.
Dems, in the meantime, have turned to the courts to block the redistricting plan that cost them a Congressional seat in Missouri.
St. Louis Today reported, last month:
A group of plaintiffs backed by a national Democratic legal fund filed a lawsuit in Jefferson City to overturn the map that will pare the number of Congressional districts in the state from nine to eight.
The lawsuit says that the Republican-controlled state Legislature “utilized an overreaching process for wholly partisan purposes” when they redrew the boundaries in a way that eliminates the district of St. Louis Democratic U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan.
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The suit was bankrolled by the National Democratic Redistricting Trust, established as part of a national strategy to challenge redistricting maps at the state level.
In Missouri, the suit asks the court to throw out the map and redraw a new one before February, when filing for the November 2012 ballot will begin.
Although Carnahan has been hinting for months that he would file a lawsuit to block the redistricting map, the four-term Congressman is not among the plaintiffs in the suit, which includes residents of five Missouri counties and the city of St. Louis.
Lawsuit petition, here.
National Democratic Redistricting Trust is funded in part by the American Association For Justice PAC, which represents the class action lawsuit industry in the nation’s capital. 97% of that money goes to Democrats and only 3% to the GOP.
In other words this is an effort being bankrolled by the institutional left. Carnahan really wants his seat back.
See also:
Ballot News: Redistricting Roundup: Lawsuits continue to pile up:
In what is likely to be a sign of things to come, the courts had a busy week this week in redistricting. Nationwide, there were 7 states where a lawsuit was filed this week relating to the redistricting process.
Some of the states had already had one lawsuit filed — others simply say legal action relating to an ongoing suit.
Lawsuits were filed in the following states this week:
- Arizona
- California
- Florida
- Missouri
- New Mexico
- Ohio
- Texas
Overall, lawsuits have been filed in 26 states thus far during the redistricting process.
Nice Deb 