Republican primary voters avoided a self-inflicted wound in West Virginia when disgraced coal baron Don Blankenship (R) finished third in the GOP Senate primary. Much else went as expected Tuesday night. Five ratings changes this week affect races for Senate, governor, and House, but most importantly broaden the Senate playing […] Read more »
Primary elections: Blankenship loses in W.Va.; Pittenger concedes in North Carolina
Republican voters rallied behind candidates aligned with President Trump and party leaders in a trio of pivotal Senate primaries Tuesday, reinvigorating the GOP’s bid to hold and possibly expand on its majority in midterm elections. … Trump’s unpopularity in the suburbs and exurbs where Republicans have built their House majority […] Read more »
What’s At Stake In The First Big Primary Day Of 2018
Will a new political dynasty be born? Will a man not quite a year removed from prison become the GOP’s candidate for Senate? Will Dennis Kucinich finally win a nomination — 14 years after his first quixotic presidential bid? These things could all happen Tuesday, primary day in the great […] Read more »
An Urgent Debate for California Republicans: How to Get Back in the Game
For anyone wondering about the state of the Republican Party in California these days, consider this: There may be no Republican candidate for governor or United States senator on the state’s ballot this November. That dispiriting possibility is beginning to sink in for California Republicans, against the backdrop of a […] Read more »
Iowa Is a Crucial Test for Any Blue Wave
No state changed its political colors more sharply in the past two election cycles than Iowa. Once a Democratic-leaning purple-blue state that backed Barack Obama, it is now a deeply Republican, Donald Trump-supporting red one. Was that a permanent shift or an aberration with unique conditions and candidates? That question […] Read more »
Ohio: A political landscape upended by President Trump
Until 2016, Ohio was the ground zero of presidential politics. Yes, there was also Florida, Ohio’s bookend in all recent elections. But the Buckeye State’s fiercely competitive environment, combined with its heartland sensibilities, often made it the nation’s preeminent political crossroads every four years. Everyone assumed 2016 would produce another […] Read more »