It became more competitive for Nunes, that’s for sure. 
I fear that George Takei may be taking on more than he realizes. I don’t know personally the fine people of Visalia, but the parts of California that are red are really, really red, partly in resistance to the overall blueness (state government dominated by Democrats, both US senators also Democratic) of the state. I wish him all the luck in the world, but I hope he isn’t counting too much on his name recognition. Nunes won his seat by a 2-1 majority last year.
I’d just remind everyone what today is before we start rejoicing over Takei’s challenge of Nunes…
Indeed, he posted a “gotcha” pic on his Facebook page.
J. B. Pritzker is also considering a run for Gov of the Prairie State.
And Rauner is already running television ads. I think he realizes just how vulnerable his job is. I think the Dems will end up running a strong candidate (I’m hoping at this point it’s Kennedy). I’d sure like to kiss Rauner goodbye.
Nothing interesting is happening yet in Texas. But there’s speculation that a Trump ally like Congressman Mike McCaul will try to paint Ted Cruz as a liberal RINO and run against him in the 2018 GOP primary.
Fear of that possibly is likely what led Cruz to (finally) endorse Trump last year.
We’ll see.
I knew what day it was and he still got me. I never thought that he’d joke about that. OK, George, you got me, I guess. Good one.
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Here in Minnesota, Mark Dayton has announced he won’t be running again due to cancer. Lt. Governor Tina Smith has announced that she won’t be running either, so there’s going to be something of a scramble… We’ve got Chris Coleman (St. Paul Mayor) and Erin Murphy (State Representative) as the main candidates on the Dem side, as well as Rebecca Otto (State Auditor) and Tim Walz (state representative). Doesn’t look like any Republicans have declared their candidacy yet…
Eh, the “announcement” I linked to was dated 3-31. Too early, George!
Isn’t Walz a US representative?
Somebody is going to try to paint Ted Cruz as a liberal? Even for Texas, that’s going to be a difficult sell.
Full disclosure: He got me too. When I woke up I told my wife about it. A couple hours later, I saw his grinning mug in my Facebook feed holding a piece of paper that said “Gotcha!”
Yes, George, you flipping got me. And I, too, saw it on March 31, so wasn’t thinking about April Fools Day yet. I know nothing of the district, so I didn’t know of any plausibility or not of a Takei campaign there.
Beto O’Rourke, Democratic US Rep for El Paso, announced his run for the Senate on Friday. Ted Cruz is up for re-election. He spoke in Houston today–a large crowd was glad to hear his message. (I was there.)
Joaquin Castro may also be running. No matter who wins the primary, it appears we’ll have someone interesting opposing Loathsome Ted…
I am doing everything I can to get Congressman Ted Lieu to run for Dianne Feinstein’s seat. So far no luck.
There was a story that George Takei was running against Devin Nunes, but I guess it was an April Fool joke.
I’ve seen a couple of interviews with Gillibrand lately in which she says she is definitely running. It’s hard to imagine that she wouldn’t; she’s fairly young, she’s not going to be appointed to any cabinet or judicial post in a Republican administration, and there’s really no other elected position for her to rise to in 2018 better than US senator.
She is one of my favorite politicians, impressed me very much in her first House campaign (her district began a couple of miles from my house and I heard her speak a couple of times, plus which the local paper covered that election). I continue to thank our lucky stars that David Patterson picked her to fill Clinton’s seat instead of doing the easy thing and picking Caroline Kennedy.
In Alabama everything is Republican politics, the Democratic Party is a shambles. With Sessions out of the Senate and the Governor facing possible impeachment, 2018 could be very interesting. Our Mayor (Huntsville) is sniffing around the possibility of going for the Governorship, but so is most every politician in the state…going to be an interesting 2018 for internal Alabama politics. Oh joy.
And, in those ads, the wealthy venture capitalist-turned-governor is wearing flannel shirts, trying hard to convince us that he’s one of us. 
His term has consisted of two-plus years of him and the Democratic legislature staring at each other, while the state’s finances continue to burn like a dumpster fire.
In Massachusetts the Secretary of State’s office has started running an ad showing a senior citizen thanking him for getting her money back from some financial sharpsters. His likely primary opponent is the Attorney General, so he is seen as trying to steal her thunder as the “law and order” candidate. No one believes that it is anything more than a campaign ad funded by taxpayer dollars, rather than a genuine public education effort.