Frank McNeill, a Propane CEO from Aberdeen, North Carolina, has stepped up to run as a Democrat in North Carolina's 8th congressional district—a potentially flippable 56-41 Trump seat.

2018 is finally here—a midterm election year that will hopefully be far more favorable to Democrats than federal election years of recent past. And with that, I bring some good news: as we enter 2018, only 18 currently Republican-held seats in the U.S. House lack Democratic challengers for the midterms!

This level of candidate recruitment is unprecedented. Typically, Democratic state parties enter a midterm election year worried that they’ll be able to land candidates in the most winnable seats. However, as of right now, it appears only 14 states have any seats without Democratic candidates.

I’ve been tracking candidate declarations as best as I can through media reports, FEC filings, and the website Politics1, which keeps a running list of candidates for federal elections. My last update came on October 29, when 25 seats lacked Democratic candidates. That was after the start of a new quarter, so I didn’t expect much activity until January. However, since then, we’ve seen some major developments.

First, though, a correction: I missed a candidate last time! Courtney Tricht is running an impressive campaign in Indiana’s 3rd congressional district, and has been doing so since last spring. She's an economic development professional who, according to her FEC paperwork from 3 months ago, has raised close to $90K, mostly from individual donors. It's a rough district--Trump won it 65-30. However, crazier seat flips have happened in the recent past. Major kudos to Daily Kos user GVOLTT for catching my oversight. This also means all Republican incumbents in Indiana have Democratic challengers!

Additionally, Jason Nichols, the Democratic mayor of Tahlequah, Oklahoma has finally appeared on the Politics1 list as a candidate for Oklahoma’s 2nd district. He has yet to file any formal FEC paperwork, but since they're counting him and he’s received serious media coverage, I'll count him, too.

In addition to these updates, 6 other candidates have declared for the 2018 midterms since October, while 1 previously declared candidate—Kathie Allen for Utah’s 3rd congressional district—remains unsure about a 2018 candidacy after suffering a rough loss in a special election this November. Hopefully, she gives it another go. It will be an uphill battle once again, but Republican incumbent John Curtis did only receive 58% of the vote.

Of the 6 aforementioned candidates, one seems particularly promising: Frank McNeill of North Carolina’s 8th congressional district. He has yet to launch a website or file paperwork, but the NC Democratic party chair for the congressional district has written up some information about him.

McNeill serves as President and CEO for a Propane and Gas company that’s known throughout the Fayetteville area. He lives in a more rural part of this district, which stretches form the Charlotte suburbs to Fayetteville, and previously served on his county Board of Education, an elected position. Thanks to court-mandated redistricting last year, North Carolina’s 8th is not wildly conservative—it only voted for Trump by a 56-41 margin. We’ve seen similarly conservative seats flip in previous Democratic wave elections, and Republican incumbent Richard Hudson is relatively new and not especially entrenched in his new district. Should Mr. McNeill mount a strong challenge to Hudson, this race could very well become a 2018 sleeper.

The 5 other declarations are as follows:

Georgia’s 14th — A veteran named Brian Rosser has declared in this rural northwestern Georgia district, currently held by the very entrenched Republican incumbent Tom Graves. It's an uphill climb, but this means Democrats are running in every seat in Georgia now!

— A veteran named Brian Rosser has declared in this rural northwestern Georgia district, currently held by the very entrenched Republican incumbent Tom Graves. It's an uphill climb, but this means Democrats are running in every seat in Georgia now! Idaho’s 2nd — Idaho also got bumped off the list of states with seats left unchallenged, as an economist named Aaron Swisher declared his candidacy.

— Idaho also got bumped off the list of states with seats left unchallenged, as an economist named Aaron Swisher declared his candidacy. South Carolina’s 4th — A candidate named Will Morin has filed to run in this Spartanburg-to-Greenville district, currently held by the notorious Trey Gowdy. That leaves no seat left unchallenged in South Carolina. Morin is also decently active on Twitter.

— A candidate named Will Morin has filed to run in this Spartanburg-to-Greenville district, currently held by the notorious Trey Gowdy. That leaves no seat left unchallenged in South Carolina. Morin is also decently active on Twitter. Ohio’s 8th — A Democratic candidate finally declared here—Ted Jones, who as far as I can tell only has a Twitter account: @TJones4Congress. But he seems serious, and he’s made some funny tweets!

— A Democratic candidate finally declared here—Ted Jones, who as far as I can tell only has a Twitter account: @TJones4Congress. But he seems serious, and he’s made some funny tweets! Louisiana’s 6th — Land Surveyer Justin Dewitt has stepped up in this Baton Rouge exurban district—a district that’s about as conservative as Alabama, where Doug Jones just won...so, anything’s possible!

This leaves 18 seats without known Democratic challengers. Of these 18, a few do have a filing deadline approaching soon (which I’ve listed below for deadlines before April 1st). Most urgently, we need a Democratic candidates in KY-05, AL-01, and or OH-06, all of which have deadlines at the end of January/early February.

Here is the updated list of GOP-held seats with no known Democratic challengers:

Alabama: AL-01 (filing deadline February 9, 2018!)

AL-01 (filing deadline February 9, 2018!) Kansas: KS-01

KS-01 Kentucky: KY-05 (filing deadline January 30, 2018!)

KY-05 (filing deadline January 30, 2018!) Louisiana: LA-01, LA-04, LA-05

LA-01, LA-04, LA-05 Michigan: MI-10

MI-10 Mississippi: MS-03 (filing deadline March 1, 2018!)

MS-03 (filing deadline March 1, 2018!) Missouri: MO-03 (filing deadline March 27, 2018!)

MO-03 (filing deadline March 27, 2018!) North Carolina: NC-03 (filing deadline February 28, 2018!)

NC-03 (filing deadline February 28, 2018!) Ohio: OH-06 (filing deadline February 7, 2018!)

OH-06 (filing deadline February 7, 2018!) Oklahoma: OK-01, OK-03

OK-01, OK-03 Tennessee: TN-06

TN-06 Utah: UT-01, UT-03 (filing deadline March 15, 2018!)

UT-01, UT-03 (filing deadline March 15, 2018!) Wisconsin: WI-07

WI-07 Wyoming: WY-AL

States removed: Indiana, Idaho, Georgia, South Carolina

Because January marks the start of a new fundraising quarter, we can expect some candidate declarations over the next few weeks. I therefore plan to do another update in mid-to-late January. Hopefully, by that time, many Democrats will have chosen to step up and run, perhaps inspired by Doug Jones’s success in turning Alabama into a purple state!