Daily Kos: Daily Kos Elections Live Digest: 8/1

CA-39: Wealthy businessman Andy Thorburn is the latest Democrat to jump into the race against longtime Republican Rep. Ed Royce in this suburban Orange County congressional seat. Thorburn doesn’t seem to have run for office before, but he immediately loaned himself a considerable $2 million, giving him far more money at his disposal than any other Democratic challenger at this point. Thorburn was once a public school teacher in New Jersey and was active in the American Federation of Teachers. In an unusual move to emphasize how he’ll advocate for working people, his intro video highlights how he was arrested and jailed for 30 days for participating in an illegal teachers’ strike way back in 1970.

 

Thorburn will first have to get past the top-two primary if he hopes to face Royce in next year’s general election. The Democratic field here already includes education consultant Phil Janowicz, pediatrician Mai-khanh Tran, and Navy veteran Gil Cisneros, who once won $266 million in a lottery and could presumably self-finance his campaign like Thorburn if he wants to. Royce won’t be easy to dispatch in this historically GOP-leaning seat, but Democrats sense an opening in this well-educated and diverse seat after it flipped from 51-47 Romney to 51-43 Clinton.

 

 

As originally posted on Daily Kos: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/8/1/1685284/-Daily-Kos-Elections-Live-Digest-8-1?t=1501616870721#update-1501616845000

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