Voting is now closed. Click here to see the first FDL Fire Dogs
It’s going to be a tough election year in 2010, so helping good incumbents keep their seats is going to be as important as supporting challengers was in 2006 and 2008.
It's a rare breed of representative who stands up for progressive values and doesn't back down. That's why we want to choose members of Congress who aren't afraid to fight. We're calling them FDL Fire Dogs.
Two thousand people who hailed from their districts nominated 180 members of Congress for support from FDL Action PAC. Now you get to decide — who should we help?
Click here to view the prizes, rules, and selection criteria.
FDL Fire Dog Score Card
We listed candidates in reverse order of district PVI. PVI is a measure of how heavily the district leans to a particular party. In general, the higher the Republican PVI, the harder time the incumbent will have in the next election if Democratic turnout is low. If someone is in a heavily gerrymandered Democratic district they probably don’t have much to fear from a Republican challenger. Note: all candidates listed below were nominated by FDL activists who are their constituents.
| Representative | District | PVI | Pledge to End War Funding | Voted Against 6/09 War Supplemental | Public Option Pledge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chet Edwards | TX-17 | R+20 | |||
| Bobby Bright | AL-02 | R+16 | N/A | ||
| Ike Skelton | MO-04 | R+14 | |||
| Frank Kratovil Jr. | MD-01 | R+13 | N/A | ||
| Rick Boucher | VA-09 | R+11 | |||
| Earl Pomeroy | ND-AL | R+10 | |||
| Alan B. Mollohan | WV-01 | R+9 | |||
| Brad Ellsworth | IN-08 | R+8 | |||
| Christopher P. Carney | PA-10 | R+8 | |||
| John M. Spratt Jr. | SC-05 | R+7 | |||
| Ann Kirkpatrick | AZ-01 | R+6 | N/A | ||
| Betsey Markey | CO-04 | R+6 | |||
| Baron P. Hill | IN-09 | R+6 | |||
| Heath Shuler | NC-11 | R+6 | |||
| Harry Teague | NM-02 | R+6 | N/A | ||
| Harry E. Mithcell | AZ-05 | R+5 | |||
| John T. Salazar | CO-03 | R+5 | |||
| Collin C. Peterson | MN-07 | R+5 | |||
| Mike McIntyre | NC-07 | R+5 | |||
| Eric J. J. Massa | NY-29 | R+5 | N/A | √ | |
| Thomas S. P. Perriello | VA-05 | R+5 | N/A | ||
| Gabrielle Giffords | AZ-08 | R+4 | |||
| Ciro D. Rodriguez | TX-23 | R+4 | |||
| Bart Stupak | MI-01 | R+3 | |||
| John J. Hall | NY-19 | R+3 | √ | ||
| Alan Grayson | FL-08 | R+2 | N/A | ||
| Mark H. Schauer | MI-07 | R+2 | N/A | ||
| Bob Etheridge | NC-02 | R+2 | |||
| Michael A. Arcuri | NY-24 | R+2 | |||
| Steve Kagen | WI-08 | R+2 | |||
| Jerry McNerney | CA-11 | R+1 | |||
| Deborah L. Halvorson | IL-11 | R+1 | N/A | ||
| Bill Foster | IL-14 | R+1 | |||
| Timothy J. Walz | MN-01 | R+1 | |||
| John H. Adler | NJ-03 | R+1 | N/A | ||
| Bill Owens | NY-23 | R+1 | |||
| John P. Murtha | PA-12 | R+1 | |||
| Carol Shea-Porter | NH-01 | EVEN | √ | ||
| Timothy H. Bishop | NY-01 | EVEN | |||
| Roy Klein | FL-22 | D+1 | |||
| Sanford D. Bishop Jr. | GA-02 | D+1 | |||
| Leonard L. Boswell | IA-03 | D+1 | |||
| Steve Driehaus | OH-01 | D+1 | N/A | ||
| Mary Jo Kilroy | OH-15 | D+1 | N/A | ||
| Kurt Schrader | OR-05 | D+1 | N/A | √ | √ |
| Christopher S. Murphy | CT-05 | D+2 | √ | ||
| John A. Yarmuth | KY-03 | D+2 | √ | ||
| Gary C. Peters | MI-09 | D+2 | N/A | ||
| Dina Titus | NV-03 | D+2 | N/A | ||
| Peter A. DeFazio | OR-04 | D+2 | √ | √ | |
| Patrick J. Murphy | PA-08 | D+2 | √ | ||
| Gerald E. Connolly | VA-11 | D+2 | N/A | ||
| Phil Hare | IL-17 | D+3 | √ | √ | |
| Michael H. Michaud | ME-02 | D+3 | |||
| James L. Oberstar | MN-08 | D+3 | √ | ||
| Rick Larsen | WA-02 | D+3 | |||
| David R. Obey | WI-07 | D+3 | |||
| Ed Perlmutter | CO-07 | D+4 | |||
| Steve Israel | NY-02 | D+4 | |||
| Ron Kind | WI-03 | D+4 | |||
| James A. Himes | CT-04 | D+5 | N/A | ||
| Bruce Braley | IA-01 | D+5 | |||
| Bill Delahunt | MA-10 | D+5 | √ | √ | |
| Brad Miller | NC-13 | D+5 | |||
| Rush D. Holt | NJ-12 | D+5 | √ | √ | |
| Martin Heinrich | NM-01 | D+5 | N/A | ||
| Anthony D. Weiner | NY-09 | D+5 | √ | √ | |
| Betty Sutton | OH-13 | D+5 | |||
| Norman D. Dicks | WA-06 | D+5 | |||
| Adam Smith | WA-09 | D+5 | |||
| Raul M. Grijalva | AZ-07 | D+6 | √ | √ | √ |
| Joe Courtney | CT-02 | D+6 | |||
| John P. Sarbanes | MD-03 | D+6 | |||
| Paul Tonko | NY-21 | D+6 | N/A | ||
| Maurice D. Hinchey | NY-22 | D+6 | √ | √ | |
| Lloyd Doggett | TX-25 | D+6 | √ | √ | √ |
| David Loebsack | IS-02 | D+7 | √ | ||
| John F. Tierney | MA-06 | D+7 | √ | √ | √ |
| Russ Carnahan | MO-03 | D+7 | |||
| Ben Ray Lujan | NM-03 | D+7 | N/A | ||
| Allyson Y. Schwartz | PA-13 | D+7 | |||
| Bob Filner | CA-51 | D+8 | √ | √ | √ |
| Niki Tsongas | MA-05 | D+8 | |||
| Chellie Pingree | ME-01 | D+8 | N/A | √ | |
| David E. Price | NC-04 | D+8 | |||
| Dennis J. Kucinich | OH-10 | D+8 | √ | √ | √ |
| David Wu | OR-01 | D+8 | |||
| Rosa L. DeLauro | CT-03 | D+9 | |||
| James P. McGovern | MA-03 | D+9 | √ | √ | √ |
| Steven R. Rothman | NJ-09 | D+9 | √ | ||
| Nita M. Lowey | NY-18 | D+9 | |||
| James R. Langevin | RI-02 | D+9 | |||
| Jay Inslee | WA-01 | D+9 | |||
| Emmanuel Cleaver | MO-05 | D+10 | √ | √ | |
| Bill Pascrell Jr. | NJ-08 | D+10 | √ | ||
| Shelley Berkley | NV-01 | D+10 | |||
| Marcy Kaptur | OH-09 | D+10 | √ | √ | √ |
| John Garamendi | CA-10 | D+11 | |||
| Jared Polis | CO-02 | D+11 | N/A | ||
| Kathy Castor | FL-11 | D+11 | |||
| Dale E. Kildee | MI-05 | D+11 | |||
| Lois Capps | CA-23 | D+12 | √ | ||
| Howard L. Berman | CA-28 | D+12 | |||
| Jane Harman | CA-36 | D+12 | |||
| Sander M. Levin | MI-12 | D+12 | |||
| Robert E. Andrews | NJ-01 | D+12 | |||
| Gary L. Ackerman | NY-05 | D+12 | |||
| James E. Clyburn | SC-06 | D+12 | |||
| Mike Thompson | CA-01 | D+13 | √ | ||
| Brad Sherman | CA-27 | D+13 | |||
| John B. Larson | CT-01 | D+13 | |||
| Debbie Wasserman Schultz | FL-20 | D+13 | |||
| John D. Dingell | MI-15 | D+13 | |||
| Betty McCollum | MN-04 | D+13 | √ | ||
| Patrick J. Kennedy | RI-01 | D+13 | |||
| Peter Welch | VT-AL | D+13 | |||
| Adam B. Schiff | CA-29 | D+14 | |||
| Andre Carson | IN-07 | D+14 | √ | √ | |
| John W. Olver | MA-01 | D+14 | √ | √ | |
| Barney Frank | MA-04 | D+14 | √ | √ | √ |
| Doris O. Matsui | CA-05 | D+15 | |||
| Mike M. Honda | CA-15 | D+15 | √ | √ | √ |
| Judy Chu | CA-32 | D+15 | √ | ||
| Edward J. Markey | MA-07 | D+15 | √ | ||
| Louise McIntosh Slaughter | NY-28 | D+15 | √ | ||
| Tammy Baldwin | WI-02 | D+15 | |||
| Zoe Lofgren | CA-16 | D+16 | |||
| Melvin L. Watt | NC-12 | D+16 | √ | √ | |
| James P. Moran | VA-08 | D+16 | √ | ||
| Henry A. Waxman | CA-30 | D+18 | √ | ||
| Grace F. Napolitano | CA-38 | D+18 | √ | √ | |
| Corrine Brown | FL-03 | D+18 | √ | √ | |
| Eliot L. Engel | NY-17 | D+18 | |||
| George Miller | CA-07 | D+19 | |||
| Sam Farr | CA-17 | D+19 | √ | √ | √ |
| Mike Quigley | IL-05 | D+19 | |||
| Earl Blumenauer | OR-03 | D+19 | √ | √ | |
| Michael F. Doyle | PA-14 | D+19 | |||
| Janice D. Schakowsky | IL-09 | D+20 | √ | ||
| Robert C. "Bobby" Scott | VA-03 | D+20 | √ | ||
| Anna G. Eshoo | CA-14 | D+21 | √ | ||
| Diana DeGette | CO-01 | D+21 | √ | ||
| Chris Van Hollen | MD-08 | D+21 | |||
| Albio Sires | NJ-13 | D+21 | √ | ||
| Fortney Pete Stark | CA-13 | D+22 | √ | √ | √ |
| Lucille Roybal-Allard | CA-34 | D+22 | √ | ||
| Jerrold Nadler | NY-08 | D+22 | √ | √ | |
| Gwen Moore | WI-04 | D+22 | √ | ||
| Lynn C. Woolsey | CA-06 | D+23 | √ | √ | √ |
| Jackie Speier | CA-12 | D+23 | √ | ||
| Keith Ellison | MN-05 | D+23 | √ | √ | √ |
| Stephen Cohen | TN-09 | D+23 | √ | ||
| Henry C. "Hank" Johnson Jr. | GA-04 | D+24 | √ | √ | |
| Sheila Jackson Lee | TX-18 | D+24 | √ | √ | |
| Elijah E. Cummings | MD-07 | D+25 | √ | √ | |
| Carolyn B. Maloney | NY-14 | D+26 | √ | √ | |
| William Lacy Clay | MO-01 | D+27 | √ | √ | |
| Eddie Bernice Johnson | TX-30 | D+27 | √ | ||
| Alcee L. Hastings | FL-23 | D+28 | √ | √ | |
| Xavier Becerra | CA-31 | D+29 | |||
| Maxine Waters | CA-35 | D+31 | √ | √ | √ |
| Susan A. Davis | CA-53 | D+31 | |||
| Donna F. Edwards | MD-04 | D+31 | N/A | √ | |
| Jim McDermott | WA-07 | D+31 | √ | √ | |
| Louis V. Gutierrez | IL-04 | D+32 | √ | √ | |
| Michael E. Capuano | MA-08 | D+32 | √ | ||
| Marcia L. Fudge | OH-11 | D+32 | √ | ||
| Donald Payne | NJ-10 | D+33 | √ | √ | √ |
| Nydia M. Velazquez | NY-12 | D+33 | √ | √ | |
| Bobby L. Rush | IL-01 | D+34 | √ | ||
| John Conyers Jr. | MI-14 | D+34 | √ | √ | √ |
| Nancy Pelosi | CA-08 | D+35 | |||
| Diane E. Watson | CA-33 | D+35 | √ | √ | √ |
| Robert Brady | PA-01 | D+35 | |||
| Jesse L. Jackson Jr. | IL-02 | D+36 | √ | √ | |
| Barbara Lee | CA-09 | D+37 | √ | √ | √ |
| Chaka Fattah | PA-02 | D+38 | √ | √ |
Prizes:
- The first, second and third place winner will be added to an FDL ActBlue fundraising page.
- Voter lists from the winners’ districts will be purchased and entered into our Voter ID/GOTV tool.
- Members of the FDL community will call voters in these districts to identify and persuade constituent support, encourage voter registration and recruit volunteers.
- Those voters will be called again by the FDL community to help turn out voters during the fall election
- When $10,000 has been raised for each candidate on ActBlue and 500 Voter ID calls logged, we will rerun the contest and add 3 more candidates to the list.
- Those who are already on the list will receive the same incentives for another cycle, subject to a confirmation vote by the community so they remain accountable.
Rules:
- Voting will be open for 7 days. It will close at midnight, Tuesday February 9th.
- You can only vote once.
- Each day the new vote totals will be announced on FDL at 3pm ET.
- The winners will be announced on Wednesday, February 10.
Criteria:
You are free to evaluate candidates on any basis you want. On this page, we include where each member stood on the 3 criteria used in the FDL whip counts:
- Pledged to vote against any war funding that does not have troop withdrawal provisions
- Voted against June 2009 war supplemental
- Pledged to vote against any health care bill that does not have a public option
Paid for by the FDL Action PAC (www.FDLaction.com) and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. Contributions to the FDL Action PAC are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes.