Help recruit a candidate for Congress

Thank you for your interest, but voting in this survey is now closed. We'll email all MoveOn members in the district before endorsing a candidate or taking other action in this race.

We want to ensure that each congressional district has a strong candidate who will stand up for our values. This informal survey of MoveOn members in your congressional district asks whether we should encourage any potential candidates to enter the race. This is not an endorsement—we'll decide later which candidates for Congress to endorse. But the public rarely has an opportunity to affect who is on the ballot, and today you can send a message about which candidates you'd like a chance to vote for next November.

You can express your preference for as many candidates as you want (or for not recruiting any candidates), just by giving each candidate a score for how enthusiastic you are about them. Each member's response will only be counted once.

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Potential Candidates

These profiles were assembled from research by MoveOn members from publicly available sources. Each person below has been mentioned publicly as a potential candidate for the race.

Candidate Descriptions Note: Many candidates have been mentioned in this race, and at least two have already entered the race, but this poll will feature the four candidates who received the most nominations from district MoveOn members in a survey last week, in order.
Gabrielle Giffords, a state senator representing Tucson, was nominated most frequently by MoveOn members in our survey last week, and is currently considering running for Rep. Kolbe's open seat. She was in the state House before becoming the youngest woman ever elected to the Arizona State Senate. She has demonstrated an ability to bring together diverse political interests: she ran a small business and was named Woman of the Year by Tucson Business Edge. Yet she was also named "Most Valuable Player" by the Sierra Club for her strong advocacy for the environment, and was recognized as Legislator of the Year by the Arizona Planning Association. With a strong interest in international affairs she was awarded a William Fulbright Scholarship for Chihuahua, Mexico, and represents the National Committee on China-US Relations as a Young Leader's Forum Fellow. She is a member of over a dozen boards including the 162nd Air National Guard Minutemen and the Metropolitan YMCA.¹

Jeff Latas is a decorated former Air Force fighter pilot who announced on Veterans' Day he is running as a Democrat in the 8th District. Latas received the second-most nominations in our survey last week. Latas flew in the Gulf War and was later transferred to the Pentagon, where he worked on weapons modernization. His son fought in the Iraq War and recently returned to the U.S. due to illness. Latas says, "We should have never invaded Iraq based on the false and misleading evidence that Iraq was an immediate threat to our country. From the knowledge that I had [at the Pentagon on WMDs], I cannot support or pardon our president for invading and occupying a country with our sons' and daughters' lives…It is time for us to leave Iraq to the Iraqi people." He also has a strong interest in environmental issues and energy independence, and supports broad access to health care.¹

Tom Volgy is a professor of Political Science at the University of Arizona and served on the Tucson City Council and as Mayor of Tucson. During that time, he played a national leadership role with the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the National League of Cities. As mayor, his accomplishments included a nationally-emulated campaign finance law; strong environmental regulations; significant improvements to public transit; improvements to city social services; and major growth in international trade. After leaving public office, Volgy has been actively involved through the U.S. government with the training of government officials overseas in the areas of democratic political development and public policy.¹ Volgy ran against Jim Kolbe for this congressional seat in 1998 and came within seven points of winning.² He received the third-most nominations by MoveOn members in our survey last week.

Mary Judge Ryan is an attorney focusing on employment law, civil rights law and governmental and administrative law. She served as the chief deputy Pima county attorney where she was responsible for budget, administration and lobbying. Previously she served as head of the Employment Unit of the civil division of the Pima County Attorney's office.¹ Ryan challenged Rep. Kolbe for this seat in 2002, with union support,² but was defeated, winning 34% of the vote.³ Her 2002 campaign website highlighted education (she was previously a public school teacher), expanding health care, and Social Security, among other issues.⁴ She came in fourth in our member survey last week.

Yes No	Should MoveOn.org get involved in this race by encouraging a candidate to run?
If you voted yes, rate your enthusiasm for each of these candidates from 1-10, where 10 is very enthusiastic.
	Gabrielle Giffords
Your message to Gabrielle Giffords:
If Giffords ran, would you pledge to: Volunteer Donate money

	Jeff Latas
Your message to Jeff Latas:
To help Latas's campaign, would you pledge to: Volunteer Donate money

	Tom Volgy
Your message to Tom Volgy:
If Volgy ran, would you pledge to: Volunteer Donate money

	Mary Judge Ryan
Your message to Mary Judge Ryan:
If Ryan ran, would you pledge to: Volunteer Donate money

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We may convey your comments, along with your name, city and state, to potential candidates, or use them in an email message or the media.

Giffords Sources:

http://www.azleg.state.az.us/MembersPage.asp?Member_ID=100 and http://www.gabriellegiffords.com/

Latas Sources:

http://www.jefflatas.com

Volgy Sources:

Ryan Sources:

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