Surprised?
Nope….
Political junkies have been saying this for months….
The political handicapers are now pointing to specific House seats….
Two election handicappers are collectively moving more than a dozen House races in the GOP’s favor, in the latest sign that Democrats are facing an increasingly bleak outlook in their bid to maintain control of the lower chamber in November’s midterms.
The Cook Political Report shifted eight House races in districts stretching from New York to Nevada toward Republicans on Wednesday.
The changes include moving three previously “likely” Democratic districts — Indiana’s 1st, New York’s 19th and North Carolina’s 1st — into “lean” Democratic territory. Meanwhile, three districts that previously leaned toward Democrats — Nevada’s 3rd and 4th, as well as Virginia’s 7th district — are now toss-ups, according to the election handicapper.
The Cook Political Report also shifted New Jersey’s 3rd District and New York’s 4th District into “likely” Democratic territory rather than “solid” Democratic territory.
Each of those districts — except for two — are currently held by Democrats seeking reelection this year. Rep. Kathleen Rice(D-N.Y.) is retiring from her seat in New York’s 4th District and Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.) is not seeking reelection in North Carolina’s 1st District.
In a similar move, Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics moved 11 House districts in favor of Republicans, including six currently held by Democrats.
There’s some overlap with the Cook Political Report’s changes. Indiana’s 1st District, for example, has also been shifted into the “lean” Democratic column. But Sabato’s Crystal Ball also moved a handful of Republican-held seats in Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas toward the GOP….
Note…
Democarts may have some wiggle room though with the rightwingnuts being like progressives for the Deemocarst right now and hesitant to go along with their party sometimes like Manchin with Democrats in the Senate right now….
House Democrats ARE out raising money over the GOPer’s….
What happened: We’ve run the numbers and all but two of the 35 House Democratic frontline members outraised their Republican opponents during the most recent quarter. That money may not be enough in a hostile political environment but certainly can’t hurt.
The exceptions: Rep. Tom O’Halleran (D-Ariz.), who got outraised by Eli Crane — $650,000 to $579,000. And Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), who raised a hefty $869,000 but saw Republican Paul Junge raise $1.3 million (thanks to a $1 million contribution from himself).
Some other trends worth teasing out:
1) The class of 2018 continues to crush it with fundraising. Some of these would be good numbers for Senate races…
More…