A tale of two Virginia districts explains why the geographic, demographic and cultural chasm between the parties in the House of Representatives is about to grow much wider — with ominous implications for America’s escalating political tensions.
In the affluent, diverse, 10th Congressional District of Virginia in the Washington suburbs, a sharp backlash against President Trump has left Republican Rep. Barbara Comstock as perhaps the nation’s most endangered GOP incumbent. Simultaneously, in the preponderantly white, working-class and rural 9th Congressional District of Virginia, which includes this picturesque town in the state’s far southwestern corner, Trump’s popularity is reinforcing the strength of Republican Rep. Morgan Griffith, who captured the seat from a veteran Democrat during the GOP landslide of 2010.
The contrasting prospects for Comstock and Griffith crystallize how the 2018 election could complete the geographic restructuring of the House that first fully snapped into view during that GOP sweep eight years ago. CONT.
Ronald Brownstein, CNN