What will it take for Kai to win in 2016?

I was thrilled to learn today that one of Harrisonburg's best civic leaders, Kai Degner, will run for Congress this year. Kai has served on City Council since 2008 and is someone who brings people together to talk and listen, through his OrangeBand Initiative which started at JMU, through leading multiple community summits on important issues, and through his podcast Hello Harrisonburg. He's intelligent, thoughtful, and kind - certainly the kind of leader I want representing my community in Washington DC.

But make no mistake: this will be a tough one to win. Our incumbent congressman, Bob Goodlatte, has won every election since 1992 and because of his seniority is a political powerhouse within the Republican Party, chairing the influential House Judiciary Committee and holding onto a campaign war chest of over $1.3 million with plenty of potential to call in national donors if he thought his seat were in danger. In a heavily red congressional district, Goodlatte has never had less than 60% of the vote (and has even won with more than 99% of the vote twice!).

The path for Kai to break Goodlatte's 12-election streak can't just be from energizing the Democrats, or even from uniting the independents...there aren't enough of us. The path has to include convincing around 50,000 people who usually vote for Goodlatte to vote for someone else. As I see it, that happens in one of two ways:

SPLIT the vote: an appealing conservative candidate runs in the general election to Goodlatte's right (although Goodlatte votes 95% of the time with the Republican party agenda, so it would be hard to cast him as a RINO).

FLIP the vote: give at least 50,000 people a reason to vote for Kai instead of Goodlatte. In addition to creating positive vibes about Kai, that kind of large-scale deprogramming of an entrenched voting habit will probably also involve giving people a reason NOT to keep voting for Goodlatte. As you look at Goodlatte's record and his positions, what are the areas you see that might give pause to typical Goodlatte voters in the 6th Virginia Congressional District? Here are a few that strike me as potentially influential:
- Goodlatte esteems party over principle by supporting Trump's campaign (though it is likely that most of the people in the 6th district will vote for Trump even if it means holding their noses).
- Goodlatte's powerful committee is largely responsible for our do-nothing Congress. He has been called the "guardian of gridlock" and criticized by 9-11 first responders and families of gun violence victims for his role in smothering needed legislation.
- Goodlatte supports ineffective and unpopular policies like mass incarceration, US as policeman for the world, and continuing the war on marijuana.

Kai will almost certainly win in Harrisonburg, Lexington, and Roanoke City, but he also needs to win in the other cities and counties of our district like Rockingham, Augusta, and Lynchburg. What advice would you give candidate Kai to maximize his chances this November?