The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) is the State House version of the DCCC. With 2011 being a redistricting year, the DLCC takes a more prominent role in the November elections than it would in other years, and with the Texas Lege being fairly balanced, they’ll be paying some attention to our state and its legislative races.
The national committee, which provides financial support to Democratic candidates in state legislative races, will spend $20 million in an effort to take control of 21 legislative chambers in 17 states, a spokesman said.
[…]
The $20 million in committee money in the current cycle far outpaces what the organization has spent in the past. The committee spent $12 million on state races in 2008 and $10 million in 2006, spokesman Matt Compton said.
The committee hasn’t decided how to allocate the money for the November elections, he said.
One potential recipient could be the Texas House Democratic Campaign Committee, which operates to elect Democrats to the state House.
Coleman said Democrats have many opportunities to pick up House seats.
“There are several targets, and most of them are open seats,” said Coleman, a board member of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee.
But “our primary objective is to protect incumbents.”
Obviously, we’re still very early in the game, and that $20 million represents a goal, not a bank balance. Assuming the money gets raised, the candidates themselves still have to demonstrate they’re worth the investment, which in this case means competing with hopefuls around the country. In other words, don’t go ordering any ad packages based on DLCC money just yet. When and if that money does come this way, you can get an idea of which races it may get spent in by taking a peek at this Lone Star Project report, which covers most of the likely takeover targets. The Dems have a number of seats to defend as well, and like the takeover list that may grow or shrink depending on things like how everyone involved does with their own fundraising.
Locally Murphy is favored, and Ellen Cohen is unlikely to win again given that her district even voted for McCain during the Obama tsunami in 2008. The Democrats will even be lucky to hold on to the seats of Hochberg, Farrar, and Vo, especially if the national health care debate brings a strong reaction this cycle. Bohac is in a safe seat, and is a tireless campaigner.