# Your favorite candidate of this cycle **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 19, 2016, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-candidate-of-this-cycle/763298 "2016-08-19T15:00:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-candidate-of-this-cycle/763298/21 "2016-08-22T13:57:39Z")
He’ll certainly have my vote in his race against incumbent U.S. Sen. Rob Portman here in Ohio, but he’s an aging, lackluster candidate who’s flip-flopped on gun control and has been lagging in the polls. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-candidate-of-this-cycle/763298/22 "2016-08-22T15:28:17Z")
I’m a big fan of Kamala Harris, running in California for US Senate. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-candidate-of-this-cycle/763298/23 "2016-08-22T17:13:07Z")
Jim Gray is the Democratic candidate for Senate in Kentucky, running against Rand Paul. He’s a lifelong Kentuckian (unlike Paul). He’s been a very successful mayor of Lexington, and before that he ran his family’s big-time design and construction firm. He’s relatively moderate politically. I don’t know him personally, but I know a lot of people who do and I’ve never heard a bad word about him, even from people who don’t agree politically. He’s also openly gay, so he probably doesn’t have a shot in hell, even against a clown-ass clown like Rand. He also has the Kentucky Democratic Party behind him, an organization whose ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory is legendary. It’s a shame, because he’d be a great Senator. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-candidate-of-this-cycle/763298/24 "2016-08-22T19:20:55Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Unfortunately there are no Republicans I’m excited about this year, unlike 2010-2014 when I was excited about a lot of them… Out of curiosity, who were they and how did they turn out? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2016, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-candidate-of-this-cycle/763298/25 "2016-08-25T00:25:17Z")
Most of them won: Rubio, Toomey, Paul, Schilling, Allen West, Tim Scott, Baker in Massachusetts, Nikki Haley, Susana Martinez, Brian Sandoval, Ted Cruz(I’ve since lost my enthusiasm for him), Tom Cotton, Cory Gardner… Just a ton of great candidates. And I admit I had a soft spot for Christine O’Donnell and Sharon Angle in 2010 as well, although given how Cruz turned out it’s probably best that they lost. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-candidate-of-this-cycle/763298/26 "2016-11-02T14:36:48Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > I’m a big fan of Kamala Harris, running in California for US Senate. The Economist has an [opinion piece](http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21709320-californias-tough-technocratic-attorney-general-will-be-star-next-senate-meet) on her that’s rather gushing. > [@The Economist](#): > > Ms Harris still puts her faith in data, as she cites crises that Republicans and Democrats alike know need to be addressed, in fields as diverse as criminal justice, immigration, the costs of higher education or the drugs epidemic that is as cruel a scourge in conservative rural states as it is in inner cities. ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-candidate-of-this-cycle/763298/27 "2016-11-02T15:34:56Z")
On my own ballot, I voted for the incumbent governor and incumbent senator, so they don’t count for this thread. OTOH, my HoR seat is open for the first time in my voting life, and I was pretty excited about voting for Brady Walkinshaw. He’s an openly gay Cuban-American, and quite young (32, I think), so if he wins, he seems to have the bio and brains to have a bright future in a more diverse future America. However, he’ll probably lose to Sanders-endorsed dullard, Pramila Jayapal. (Yes, it’s two Democrats running against each other in the general. That’s how it works out here.) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-candidate-of-this-cycle/763298/28 "2016-11-02T16:03:13Z")
I’ll be voting for [Kathleen Alana “Katie” McGinty](https://katiemcginty.com/) for the Senate. Hopefully she can oust Toomey. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-candidate-of-this-cycle/763298.md?page=1)