Committee announces third round of candidates from competitive districts poised to flip or keep critical seats blue and help Democrats take back the House majority
Today, the DCCC announced their latest additions to the committee’s highly competitive ‘Red to Blue’ program. To help ensure they are in the best position to win in November, these five candidates will receive strategic guidance, fundraising support, staff resources, and training.
“The five candidates added to the ‘Red to Blue’ program today will authentically represent their districts – a stark contrast to their extreme, far-right opponents. They come from diverse backgrounds and are all trusted community leaders focused on lowering costs, strengthening the middle class, building safe communities, and defending reproductive rights. I am excited to work with each of them as Democrats retake the majority this November,” said DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene.
Red to Blue is a highly competitive and battle-tested DCCC program that arms top-tier candidates with organizational and fundraising support to help them continue building winning campaigns.
About DCCC’s New Red To Blue Candidates:
AL-02 – Shomari Figures: Born and raised in Mobile, Alabama, Shomari Figures attended Alabama’s public schools from kindergarten through law school. Following the values of service and community instilled by his parents, Shomari served under Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Under President Obama, Shomari helped build out teams across the federal government that implemented key Administration priorities, including the Affordable Care Act to ensure Alabamans could access quality, affordable health care. He worked at the Department of Justice in both the Obama and Biden Administrations, and also spent several years working in the United States Senate. Shomari is running for Congress to continue prioritizing the issues he has long championed: expanding health care and lowering costs, making our communities safer, smarter, and more vibrant, and creating good-paying jobs. Shomari is the proud husband of Dr. Kalisha Dessources Figures, a public policy consultant, champion for gender equity and former school teacher. They are the parents of three small children.
Alabama’s new 2nd Congressional District was redrawn after the Supreme Court reaffirmed the Voting Rights Act, ensuring long-denied equal representation for Black communities in the state. President Joe Biden would have won the newly redrawn district, which stretches from Mobile to Montgomery, in 2020, and Cook Political Report and Inside Elections both rate the district as “Likely Democratic.”
MI-08 – Kristen McDonald Rivet:Kristen McDonald Rivet grew up in a working-class household in small-town Michigan. After becoming the first generation in her family to go to college, she dedicated her career to fighting for families like her own. In the State Senate, Kristen led the charge to pass the largest tax cut for working families in state history, repealed the 1931 abortion ban, and introduced a plan to address the growing childcare crisis. Now she’s running for Congress to level the playing field for Mid-Michiganders. Whether it’s lowering the cost of groceries, housing, and prescription drugs or protecting a woman’s fundamental freedoms, Kristen will fight tirelessly so that families have more opportunities to thrive.
Michigan’s 8th Congressional District is one of four competitive open seats this cycle and is rated as a true-toss up. President Biden won this seat by 3 points, and Kristen has already proven to be a formidable candidate, raising over $825,000 in her first quarter.
PA-01 – Ashley Ehasz: Ashley Ehasz is a U.S. Army combat veteran and a patriot. She grew up in Southeastern Pennsylvania and joined the Army at the age of 17 following 9/11. After graduating from West Point, Ashley served multiple deployments, including in Kuwait and Iraq where she flew Apache helicopters over Baghdad, defending Pennsylvanians’ fundamental freedoms abroad. Now she is running for Congress to continue the fight right here at home. Whether it’s protecting reproductive rights or defending democracy, Ashley deeply understands what it means to be in service to the people, and won’t be another out-of-touch politician like Brian Fitzpatrick who puts their party over their constituents when it matters most.
Pennsylvania’s 1st Congressional District is one of the 16 seats held by a Republican that President Biden won in 2020. While Fitzpatrick had to spend over 100% of what he raised last quarter to get out of a messy Republican primary, Ashley is raising and preserving the resources needed to compete, bringing in nearly $700,000 during that same period. Ashley is the right candidate for this moment to help Democrats turn PA-01 blue.
PA-10 – Janelle Stelson:As an award–winning broadcast journalist, Janelle Stelson has spent her life listening and talking directly to the people of Central Pennsylvania. For nearly four decades, members of her community trusted Janelle to tell the truth, trusted her to shine a light on their problems, and trusted her to get the answers. Whether she was sitting down with small business owners, riding along with local law enforcement, or covering the rising costs of housing and health care, Janelle has told the stories of countless families across the district. Now, with basic rights and democracy under attack, Janelle is joining the fight to restore common-sense leadership and to continue being a voice for Central Pennsylvania, this time in the halls of Congress.
Recent polling in PA-10 shows Janelle Stelson trailing Scott Perry by only 2 points. What’s more, Perry has the least amount of cash-on-hand out of any vulnerable Republican incumbent, making this one of the best opportunities to defeat a member of the House Freedom Caucus. Cook Political called Janelle Perry’s “strongest opponent yet” and has upgraded the competitiveness of PA-10 in Democrats’ favor.
WI-01 – Peter Barca:Born and raised in Kenosha, Peter Barca has dedicated his life to serving Southeast Wisconsin. As a former Wisconsin State Assembly Minority Leader, Congressman, and Secretary of Revenue under Governor Evers, Peter has always gone to bat for middle class families and returned billions in tax relief to Wisconsinites. That’s exactly how he’ll lead in Congress – unlike Bryan Steil, who puts his party’s extreme agenda before Wisconsin families, including pushing to overturn Roe v. Wade and voting against lowering prescription drug costs. In Congress, Peter will continue fighting for Wisconsin families by growing the middle class, lowering costs and protecting reproductive freedom.
After 2022 redistricting cut Republicans’ modeled partisan advantage substantially, WI-01 is firmly in play. Democrats have frequently won this district, including Senator Baldwin by 8 points in 2018 and Justice Protasiewicz in 2023 by more than 6 points. After raising more than $250,000 in the first 24 hours of his campaign, Peter will be on pace to have the resources to communicate his message across the district and flip this seat blue.
See the full slate of the DCCC’s Red to Blue candidates HERE.
