Democrats’ hopes of winning in the South hinge on the suburbs

One key measure of any Democratic wave in the midterm elections will be whether it crests high enough to overcome the formidable Republican defenses in the growing suburbs across the South. The answer will have implications that extend far beyond 2018.

While Democrats have notched significant gains since the 1990s among white-collar suburban voters in most parts of the country, they have until recently made very little progress at loosening the Republican hold on affluent and increasingly racially diverse suburbs around such Southern metro areas as Atlanta, Houston and Dallas.

But suburban unease with Donald Trump’s turbulent presidency may finally provide Democrats an opening to establish a beachhead in such places — a development that would rattle the electoral map. CONT.

Ronald Brownstein, CNN