Conor Kenny's News Articles

By Avelino Maestas

If nothing else, this year's election cycle has shown that Americans are prepared to try something new. That hasn’t always translated into a win for primary challengers this year, but as Donna Edwards and Andy Harris showed in Maryland, sometimes party voters are more than willing to oust an incumbent.

In Michigan yesterday, it looked for a time as though voters might toss out another incumbent. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick barely survived a spirited race against Martha Scott and Mary Waters, edging out Waters by a 39.5 percent to 37.5 percent. Early returns had Waters in the lead, but in the end Kilpatrick was able to scrape by.

In Kansas, former Rep. Jim Ryun lost his bid for the Republican nomination to regain his seat from Democratic incumbent Rep. Nancy Boyda. Another former Congressman, Democrat Jim Slattery, is challenging Sen. Pat Roberts (R) come November.

The crowded field of candidates for Missouri’s 9th congressional district was narrowed to two: Democrat Judy Baker, a part-time non-profit director who also owns a consulting firm, will challenge Blaine Luetkemeyer (R), a small businessman and farmer, in the November election.

As part of Congresspedia's Wiki the Vote project, citizen journalists from around the country (and even some candidates!) have been logging information about the candidates' positions, biographies and records. A full list of the candidates and their professions are below, but you can also find them at their respective state portals via the Wiki the Vote project homepage. We need your help to find out more about these candidates, so if you know something about them please add it to their profile. (You can always contact one of the staff editors for help.)

In this final week before members of Congress head home for their August "work session" (read: campaign recess), they passed a major consumer safety bill (a delayed response to the Chinese toy scares) and slightly more help for college students borrowing to make tuition. Sen.

It was smooth sailing yesterday for most of Oklahoma’s congressional candidates, because they all cruised to primary election victories. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R) pulled in more than 80 percent of the vote among a field of four Republicans, easily securing the nomination. Democrat Andrew Rice, a state senator who entered politics in 2005, garnered 60 percent against Jim Rogers, a frequent candidate (with no online presence we could find).

Oklahoma's U.S. House delegation also had an easy run, even though Reps. John Sullivan (R) and Dan Boren were opposed in their primaries. Sullivan had more than 90 percent support among Republicans in the 1st congressional district, while Boren had more than 80 percent in the 2nd CD. The other three incumbents, Reps. Mary Fallin, Tom Cole and Frank Lucas, all Republicans, were unopposed.

As part of Congresspedia's Wiki the Vote project, citizen journalists from around the country (and even some candidates!) have been logging information about the candidates' positions, biographies and records. A full list of the candidates and their professions are below, but you can also find them at their respective state portals via the Wiki the Vote project homepage. We need your help to find out more about these candidates, so if you know something about them please add it to their profile. (You can always contact one of the staff editors for help.)

Election officials are expecting low turnout in Oklahoma today, where there are few competitive races to excite voters. At the top of the ballot, Republican Sen. James Inhofe is being challenged by three others for the GOP nomination. Inhofe, who first won a special election in 1994, has been a popular official in Oklahoma.