House races

Rep. John Barrow survived a primary scare Tuesday.

The Georgia Democrat easily defeated former state Sen. Regina Thomas (D), taking 62 percent of the vote with 242 of 285 precincts reporting. The Associated Press declared him the winner.

Barrow was under fire for voting against healthcare reform in March. His “no” vote so infuriated his fellow Democrats on Capitol Hill that only 10 members gave to his campaign this year, down from 22 in the 2008 cycle. 

Thomas hoped to capitalize on Barrow’s controversial vote and her demographic advantage in the primary for the heavily African-American district. But she failed to raise enough money to be competitive.

Moreover, she was taking her second crack at Barrow, having lost to him by more than 50 points in 2008. Washington-based Democratic strategists anticipated Barrow would survive Tuesday’s vote. 

Republican Ray McKinney leads the pack vying to challenge Barrow, but that primary could go to a runoff.

Rep. Tom Graves (R-Ga.) will face his second runoff in three months in August after finishing just shy of the 50 percent needed to win Tuesday’s primary outright. 

With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Graves led state Sen. Lee Hawkins 48.8 percent to 26.8 percent. 

Graves won a special election runoff June 8 for the right to serve out the term of former Rep. Nathan Deal (R), who resigned to focus on his gubernatorial campaign.  

Graves defeated Hawkins in that June 8 runoff, but a primary was still necessary to gain the nomination for the fall to serve a full two-year term.  

Graves was one of six Republican candidates in Tuesday’s primary. He had strong backing from area Tea Party groups and won the endorsement of The Club for Growth. 

Graves and Hawkins will square off again on Aug. 10. 

Rep. Pete Sessions (Texas), head of Republican House efforts, is the second member of the GOP leadership to join.

Three Georgia Democrats are facing primary challenges Tuesday — one for voting against healthcare reform and another who questioned whether Guam could tip over.

Rep. John Barrow (D-Ga.) infuriated his fellow Democrats on Capitol Hill by voting against the healthcare legislation in March. Only 10 members gave to his campaign in 2010, down from 22 in the 2008 cycle. 

Former state Sen. Regina Thomas (D) hoped to capitalize on Barrow’s controversial vote and her demographic advantage in the primary for the heavily African-American district. But she failed to raise enough money to be competitive. Morever, this is her second crack at Barrow, having lost to him by more than 50 points in 2008. Democratic strategists expect Barrow to survive Tuesday’s vote.  

Meanwhile, Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) — who questioned whether Guam could “tip over and capsize” — is up against former DeKalb County chief Vernon Jones and DeKalb County Commissioner Connie Stokes. 

Johnson has the backing of President Obama and has raised and spent significantly more than his opponents. He even released a catchy campaign song, although it was later taken down from his website for unknown reasons.  

Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.) also faces a primary challenge from Democrats Mike Murphy and Michael Frisbee, but he too is expected to retain the nomination. 

Rep. Walt Minnick (D-Idaho), the only member of his party to receive the backing of the Tea Party Express rejected the group's endorsement Monday citing the controversy over a blog post written by one of its leaders Mark Williams. 

Williams posted a mock letter to President Abraham Lincoln from Benjamin Jealous, the president of the NAACP. It came on the heels of the NAACP’s July 13 passage of a resolution calling on Tea Party leaders to repudiate racist elements of the movement.

The mock letter begins: “We Colored People have taken a vote and decided that we don’t cotton to that whole emancipation thing. Freedom means having to work for real, think for ourselves, and take consequences along with the rewards. That is just far too much to ask of us Colored People and we demand that it stop!”

The Tea Party Federation expelled Williams' group over the weekend. The Tea Party Express reacted with anger to that expulsion Monday and defended Williams in a news release. 

In a letter to Amy Kremer, co-chair of the Tea Party Express, Minnick called the blog post by Williams "reprehensible." 

"Since the Tea Party Express refuses to reject and rebuke Mr. Williams, I have no choice but to decline your endorsement," Minnick wrote. "I thank you very sincerely for your kind words about my work as a Congressman, and hope that your group can see the error of its ways."

Financial services lobbyists are holding a Washington fundraiser this week for Ohio House candidate Steve Stivers.

The Republican's bid to unseat Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Ohio) is one of the most competitive races in the country. It pits Stivers, a former bank lobbyist, against Kilroy, a freshman member who has campaigned, in part, on her work to overhaul financial regulations.

The Wednesday lunch fundraiser is with Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), the ranking Republican on the House Financial Services Committee, to raise money for Stivers. Gold level donors are suggested to make a $5,000 political action committee donation. Silver level donors are suggested to give $2,000 in PAC money or $1,000 personal. And bronze level donors are suggested to give $1,000 in PAC money or $500 in personal money.

The fundraiser invitation was circulated by the Financial Services Roundtable.

Stivers raised $533,000 in the last quarter and has $1.25 million in cash on hand. Kilroy raised $230,000 in the last quarter and has $934,000 in cash on hand, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Kilroy was one of two freshman House Democrats appointed to a 43-member conference of lawmakers finalizing the financial regulatory bill, one of the party's highest domestic priorities. Kilroy has campaigned hard against Stivers as "part of a culture" of deregulation that led to the financial crisis.

Meanwhile, the Stivers campaign has criticized Kilroy for holding fundraisers during the conference committee proceedings. Stivers has pulled in more campaign cash than Kilroy from financial services interests.

"We were critical of the connection between Congresswoman Kilroy’s selection to the Fin-Reg conference committee and the fundraiser that went to PAC’s, noting her committee assignment on Financial Services, one day later," said a Stivers spokesman. "Congresswoman Kilroy’s fundraising activity was out-of-step with the canceled fundraisers during Fin-Reg conference committee activity by Chairman Frank and ranking member Bachus, and it was out of step with the precedent established by the Office of Congressional Ethics investigation of eight members who held fundraisers in close proximity to the first House Fin-Reg vote.

"Steve Stivers is not a member of Congress and has no issue regarding conflict of interest. Moreover, he is not acting outside the accepted norms of Congress, as the Kilroy fundraiser clearly did," the spokesman said.

--Updated at 4:32 p.m.

A new Mason-Dixon poll shows freshman Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) in a dead heat with Republican challenger Joe Heck. Titus leads 42 percent to 40 percent, with 9 percent still undecided. 

Among unaffiliated voters, the two are tied at 39 percent. The survey polled 400 likely voters and has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 5 percentage points.

Titus is one of the National Republican Congressional Committee’s top targets in 2010, but has one early advantage — she reported more than $1.2 million cash on hand at the end of the second quarter. Heck reported just under $350,000.   

Sessions’s campaign counterpart, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), said he was confident Democrats would retain the majority.

Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday said Democrats would defy predictions of major losses in the midterm elections.

Reps. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) and Mike Pence (R-Ind.) sparred Sunday over their respective parties’ chances in the 2010 midterm elections.