Over the past quarter century, the unmistakable trend in American elections is toward greater alignment between the way states vote for president and the delegations they send to Congress. After Democrats’ strong night in Tuesday’s primaries, the November midterms increasingly look like a test of which party can better defend […] Read more »
California Results Are Consistent With a Competitive House Race
The results of the California top-two primary elections on Tuesday won’t be final for weeks, but the initial returns offer a useful if rough indicator of the general election. Over all, the results were in line with national expectations for November: a competitive, if perhaps Democratic-tilting, race for the House. […] Read more »
California’s Jungle Primary Might Screw Over Both Parties
Have you heard the one about two Republicans and 5,000 Democrats who walk into a primary election? It’s not much of a joke to Democrats. In at least three U.S. House primaries in California on Tuesday, Democrats are in real danger of not advancing a candidate to the November general […] Read more »
The California Primary as Gold Rush Politics
Whatever the outcome of Tuesday’s crowded congressional and statewide contests in California, the results are unlikely to heal a longstanding national schism: Political parties in the Golden State have never played the same role as their counterparts in the East. California has a proud tradition of independent voters and weak, […] Read more »
Here’s what we’ve learned from the U.S. congressional primaries so far
This year’s congressional primaries looked to be tumultuous for both parties. Democrats are fielding three times as many candidates as they had in 2016. Republican incumbents, meanwhile, were worried that they’d face primary challengers if they antagonized President Trump’s supporters. Slightly less than one-third of the incumbents seeking reelection have […] Read more »
Steve Bannon Is Right About the Midterms — Until He Isn’t
Former Trump campaign chief executive and White House strategist Steve Bannon recently told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria that the midterm elections will be “an up or down vote” on the president. He also asserted that it’s imperative that Donald Trump nationalize the midterm elections. “Trump’s second presidential race will be on […] Read more »