Chris Van Hollen

Current Budget Chair Endorses Van Hollen To Take Top Slot Next Year

Brian Beutler | November 10, 2010, 6:30PM

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD).

The current House Budget Committee Chairman -- Rep. John Spratt (D-SC), who lost his re-election bid last week -- has endorsed Chris Van Hollen to take over as the top Democrat on the panel next year.

"I am writing to state my enthusiastic support for Chris Van Hollen as Ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee in the 112th Congress," Spratt wrote in a letter to colleagues today. "Through his work in the Democratic leadership and on the Ways and Means Committee, Chris has demonstrated his dedication to our values as well as his knowledge of the issues.

Van Hollen appears to have a clear path to becoming the ranking member on the committee. Yesterday, the committee's second highest-ranking Democrat, Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-PA) backed his candidacy, and a source close to him tells me he has thusfar rounded up the support of 17 of the 19, returning Democrats on the panel, and counting.

You can read the entire letter below the fold.

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Chris Van Hollen

Chris Van Hollen Vies For Top Spot On Budget Committee

Brian Beutler | November 9, 2010, 6:33PM

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD).

A source close to outgoing DCCC chairman Chris Van Hollen confirms that the Maryland Democrat is angling to be the party's top budget guy in the House when they assume the minority in January. He would replace current chairman John Spratt, who was defeated in last week's midterm elections.

Van Hollen is not currently a member of the Budget Committee, but did deal with these issues when he was a member of the Maryland General Assembly. He was given a leadership title at the beginning of the 111th Congress, but will likely be squeezed out when Democrats lose the Speakership.

If he wins, Van Hollen would leapfrog the Budget Committee's Vice Chair Allyson Schwartz (D-PA) for the top slot. As ranking member he'd spar with incoming Budget Chairman Paul Ryan -- a conservative but, like Van Hollen, not known for his pyrotechnics behind the dais.

2010 elections

Broad And Deep: A Quick Look The GOP's Big Victory In The House

Brian Beutler | November 3, 2010, 8:58AM

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) with members of the GOP leadership

The midwest was the key to the GOP's 60-plus seat victory in the House of Representatives. Where Democrats were able to stave off losses in the west and northeast and even parts of the south, they were creamed by upwards of two dozen seats in states like Ohio, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, where the recession has taken a brutal toll.

Dems had a significant majority going in to yesterday's election, so the greatest losses were suffered by junior members. Most of them were fully expected. But when you lose this many seats, invariably some surprises get swept along with the tide.

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Democrats

Dead Dems Walking: TPM's List Of Candidates Who've Been Written Off By Their Party

Brian Beutler | November 2, 2010, 7:24AM

Majority Leader Steny Hoyer with other House Democrats

Returns for 435 House elections will start rolling in a few hours from now. Well before they do, though, most Dems had long conceded that more than a handful of races are already lost. With these seats for all intents and purposes off the table before the polls opened, the number of truly contested seats the GOP needs to win control of the House is effectively much smaller than the magic 39.

Assuming the House does change hands, then, the big open question is how big the swing will be. There are scores of seats in play, but the battle lines have already moved past over a dozen House members who, in most cases, have already been written off by their own party.

If you're keeping score tonight, don't hold your breath for any of these Democrats.

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2010 elections

Surprise! Meet The House Dems Who Used To Be Safe -- But Aren't Anymore

Eric Kleefeld | September 14, 2010, 8:57AM

Rep. Ike Skelton (D-MO)

Republicans are widely expected to make significant gains this November, possibly, perhaps even probably, taking back control of the House of Representatives. This is to be expected to some extent, as the Democrats enjoyed two big wave elections in 2006 and 2008, and many of those House members won't be coming back. But there are some other Dems, who in many other cycles would be safe bets to be reelected, that have unexpectedly ended up in tough races after longer tenures in Congress.

[TPM'S TOP 10 HOUSE RACES TO WATCH]

The House members we're talking about are folks who have been easily re-elected in past cycles, often without significant opposition, in districts that were leaning Republican in other ways, such as in the presidential vote. But in a year where the GOP has the wind at their backs, these Dems are now being aggressively targeted, and facing tough races.

"You always have some Congressmen who have been shaky," said Professor Larry Sabato from the University of Virginia, in an interview with TPM. "You think of John Spratt. Look at his district, where it is in South Carolina, he's never really that safe. Ike Skelton [of Missouri] -- they're just never that safe. They get a lot of passes, and their incumbency and their chairmanships help them. But every now and then the sun and the moon and the stars align just right and they're in trouble. It doesn't mean they'll lose, but they'll have close and competitive races, anyway."

So let's take a look at some of the Dems who have been in Congress for awhile -- and somewhat surprisingly, will have to work hard this year to stay there. This list is not exhaustive of all suddenly-vulnerable Dems, nor is it meant to imply that all or even any of them are guaranteed to lose. But it does give a sense of the current hostile environment and lack of Democratic enthusiasm -- especially as it spreads to districts that have been becoming more Republican underneath their occupants' feet.

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Social Security

Meet The 18 People Who Could Determine The Fate Of Social Security

Brian Beutler | August 30, 2010, 11:55AM

President Obama meets with the leaders of his bipartisan debt commission, Democrat Erskine Bowles, on left, and former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson, on right.

Last week former Republican Senator Alan Simpson, who co-chairs the White House's fiscal commission, drew a storm of criticism for comparing Social Security to a "cow with 310 million tits." But Titgate isn't really about language. It's about both Simpson himself -- who has long viewed Social Security as a bloated program for spoiled old people -- and about the commission as a whole. Comprised of nine tax-averse Republicans and nine Democrats, many of whom have expressed support for Social Security changes in the past, the commission will almost certainly be biased toward benefit cuts, and away from raising taxes, when it presents its report on December 1. Below, the cast of characters who will be making the calls.

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John Spratt

Poll: Dem Rep. John Spratt In Competitive Race For Reelection

Eric Kleefeld | January 27, 2010, 6:03PM

Rep. John M. Spratt, Jr. (D-SC)

A new survey by Public Policy Polling (D) shows that Rep. John Spratt (D-SC), a 14-term Democrat from a district that has reliably voted Republican for president, is facing a tough fight this year.

Spratt was tested against two Republican candidates, and comes in under the 50-percent support mark in each match. He leads state Sen. Mick Mulvaney by 46%-39%, and leads college professor and 2008 nominee Albert Spencer by 46%-37%. President Obama's approval rating in the district is 46%, to 49% disapproval, while Spratt's own approval numbers are at 41%-42%. The margin of error is ±4%.

"John Spratt is going to have to fight for reelection but he's in better shape than a lot of southern Democrats in conservative districts," said PPP president Dean Debnam, in the polling memo. "Most of his constituents still see him as a centrist, even as they see his Congressional Democratic brethren as too liberal."

John Spratt

NRCC Running New Ad In South Carolina Against 'Nancy Pelosi's Budget Chairman' John Spratt (VIDEO)

Eric Kleefeld | January 26, 2010, 11:31AM

Rep. John M. Spratt, Jr. (D-SC)

The National Republican Congressional Committee has a new against Rep. John Spratt (D-SC), one of the senior House Democrats they are targeting this year.

"Spratt is Nancy Pelosi's budget chairman. And the Spratt budget has a trillion-dollar deficit," the announcer says. "And Spratt's the architect of legislation Democrats may use to ram through a government takeover of health care. Call John Spratt. Tell him to represent South Carolina -- and not Nancy Pelosi."

Spratt was first elected in 1982, and has had many easy re-elections. However, his district voted for John McCain by 53%-46%, and voted twice for George W. Bush by greater margins than that. Republicans hope to tie him to national Democratic figures like Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Obama, in order to toss him out of his Southern district.

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