Oregon (1R, 4D). May 20 primary.
OR 5 (Schrader, D). Republicans hope that Clackamas County Commissioner Tootie Smith can unseat incumbent Kurt Schrader, who drew only 53 percent in 2012 against an underfunded challenger. But this is only a Republican long-shot.
Pennsylvania (13R, 5D). May 20 primary.
While some observers of politics apparently are only interested in statistical models that predict electoral outcomes, I have always thought that candidates matter — both during campaigns and, particularly, when the victorious arrive in Washington, D.C.
In fact I have found interviewing congressional candidates one of the most…
California Republican David Valadao is running for re-election to the 21st District — but you wouldn’t know he’s the incumbent from his ballot designation.
In the Golden State, candidates can choose a short description to accompany their name on the primary and general election ballots. The ballot…
Fewer Republican women are running for Congress in 2014, compared to last cycle. That’s a fact. But what it means — or whether it says anything at all about the GOP — is entirely a different matter.
Unfortunately, not every attempt to explain the development is even-handed and…
Democrat Nick Joe Rahall has been elected and re-elected to Congress 19 times to his southern West Virginia seat. But this November could be different, and his political future is very much in doubt.
As we wrote last May, “If Republicans get a reasonably good candidate, the national…
Ohio is usually at the epicenter of every election cycle. But after some shrewd Republican redistricting prior to the 2012 elections and a less-than-popular President Barack Obama, Democratic opportunities in the Buckeye State appear to be shifting from slim to none in this year’s midterm elections.
That won’t…
These Republican retirements must be driving Democratic strategists crazy. Some tantalizing districts have come open as formidable Republican incumbents have announced their retirements, but the midterm election environment is turning out to be very tough terrain for Democrats. And that makes it difficult for Democrats to take over those…
Should vulnerable Democratic incumbents in Republican-leaning districts run from President Barack Obama? The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza did a good job of explaining the futility of the strategy in his Tuesday post, “Memo to Democrats: Running from Barack Obama Won’t Work.”
There is an alternative, though in…
Democratic memos about the party’s optimistic prospects in Florida’s 2nd district never die. They simply fade away until the next election cycle, when a new one miraculously surfaces.
This cycle, the memo is from Anzalone Liszt Grove Research, and it insists that the Democratic nominee for Congress, Gwen…
Republican David Jolly eked out a narrow win over Democrat Alex Sink to keep the late congressman Bill Young’s seat in the GOP column. Polls had shown the race close, but most observers expected Sink, who lost the governor’s race narrowly in 2010, to defeat Jolly by two or…
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