This is John McArdle's second election cycle on Roll Call's Politics desk after covering Congressional races in the Southern and Mid-Atlantic states during the 2008 cycle. John has worked at Roll Call since 2003 and has covered many facets of life on Capitol Hill, from the Capitol Police and Congressional security issues to the Library of Congress and the legislative branch appropriations process.
Republicans won control of at least 19 state legislative chambers Tuesday — gains with implications that could extend for the next decade as the GOP now holds an outsized role in the redistricting process in several key states.
As House Democrats try to figure out how to rebound from their Election Day drubbing, 2010 may come to signify a political realignment with ramifications well into the next decade.
By 3 a.m., the 2010 Republican wave had successfully erased all Democratic House gains from the 2006 and 2008 cycles, and the GOP was still picking up seats.
The National Republican Congressional Committee and conservative third-party groups such as American Crossroads are working feverishly to capitalize on the new opportunities of a rapidly expanding playing field ahead of what is expected to be a good night for the GOP on Tuesday.
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen expressed confidence Thursday morning that Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) would remain Speaker next year, despite a bleak electoral outlook for Democrats and growing unrest about the party’s top leadership in the House.
MACON, Ga. — Rep. Jim Marshall is no stranger to tough elections. The Democrat has already won two with just 51 percent of the vote. So perhaps the calm demeanor that he exuded last week just hours before a crucial debate with his Republican challenger, state Rep. Austin Scott, wasn’t an act.
In his most brazen attempt yet to thrust Sen. David Vitter's (R-La.) three-year-old prostitution scandal into the forefront of their Senate race, Rep. Charlie Melancon (D) has released a new commercial that hammer's the Senator for his "forgotten crime."
Shot and edited in a television news magazine format meant to look like an independent exposé, the commercial is compiled from a series of Web videos first launched by the state Democratic party earlier this year.
SYLVESTER, Ga. — For most of Saturday’s Peter Pan Peanut Butter Parade, state Rep. Mike Keown (R) was playing second fiddle to the 3-, 4- and 5-year-old “mini tumblers” of Southern Pride Cheer, who marched and rode just ahead of him during the annual event at the Georgia Peanut Festival. The scene was emblematic of Keown’s race against Rep. Sanford Bishop, a senior appropriator who could be swept out of office in next month’s elections.
Despite months of preparations by the House campaign committees, the latest party spending — largely to fund TV ad buys — demonstrates the Congressional playing field remains relatively fluid three weeks before Election Day.
In a testament to the importance of this year’s midterm elections in the minds of Members, the House’s most active Congressional caucuses have hit new highs this cycle when it comes to transferring money through their political action committees.
Four years after the Rep. Mark Foley scandal, many of the GOP staffers who had a front row seat in watching the 2006 Democratic wave are now playing key roles in the possible Republican wave that many expect will return the GOP to power in the House this cycle.
House and Senate Republicans kicked off October with several aggressive independent expenditure moves aimed at putting Democrats further on the defensive with just weeks to go before Election Day.
Former state Sen. Daniel Webster has collected more than $100,000 in online donations since Rep. Alan Grayson (D) released a campaign ad that called him a religious fanatic and compared his views to those of the Taliban.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has dropped half a million dollars into West Virginia’s Senate race in the past week while the National Republican Senatorial Committee has spent
In his most brazen attempt yet to thrust Sen. David Vitter’s 3-year-old prostitution scandal into the forefront of their Senate race, Rep. Charlie Melancon (D) has released a new commercial that hammers the Republican for his “forgotten crime.”
Democratic incumbents in battleground districts in Florida, Maryland and Virginia are in serious trouble, according to polling done for the National Republican Congressional Committee’s independent expenditure arm.
The next few weeks are critical in the chess match the House campaign committees are playing when it comes to deciding how to maximize their resources and where to spend millions in independent expenditure funds.
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