Election filing closes today for partisan offices and we’ll get a count on whether the Democratic Party is contesting more legislative races this year, though it will be too early to evaluate the likelihood of any pickups.

Still, you can’t win if you don’t run.

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With that in mind, a tip of the hat this morning to Ryan Carter, 23, of Corning, one of those young Democrats who decided not to sit on the sideline. He filed this week for House District 56. He’s a senior at ASU who works in sporting goods at the Corning Walmart with a resume of work in past Democratic campaigns and the minimum wage increase.

He said: “I’m running my campaign on flood control, Universal Pre-K, increasing access to higher education and technical school, and protecting our state’s Medicaid expansion.”

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Sounds good to me. His opponent? A turncoat, farmer Joe Jett, who decided he liked being part of Republican House Speaker Jeremy Gillam’s ruling claque more than being a Democrat, though he once insisted to me he was a Roosevelt Democrat.  He’ll be the favorite. But perhaps Carter can at least prick Jett’s conscience a bit in talking about how he’s become a reliable vote for the Republican agenda, one that I don’t think would have enjoyed much support from FDR.

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