North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp has seen her state shift further to the right since her narrow win in 2012, Gonzales writes. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
When it comes to political handicapping, the easiest thing to do would be to put all of the most competitive contests into the Toss-up category and declare them too close to call. Or to argue that because Donald Trump was elected president against the projections, it’s not worth rating any races at all.
But that’s not particularly helpful to people looking for some direction and distinctions in congressional elections.
Speaker Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
Leah Vukmir has friends in all the right places.
Speaker Paul D. Ryan and Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner endorsed the longtime Wisconsin state senator Monday as she faces businessman and political newcomer Kevin Nicholson in the GOP primary for the chance to go head-to-head against Sen. Tammy Baldwin in the general election.
Georgia Sen. Johnny Isakson lost his grandson to an opioid overdose. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
As drug overdoses climb — rising 12 percent between October 2016 and October 2017 — Congress has floated dozens of proposals to combat opioid abuse.
Some lawmakers have deeply personal connections to the epidemic of addiction in America. These are their stories.
A man walks through the Canadian war cemetery in northern France. Presidents before Donald Trump, Walter Shapiro writes, understood that Canadians, Britons and Americans fought together to make the world safe from tyranny and genocide. (Graeme Robertson/Getty Images file photo)
When Ronald Reagan delivered one of the most stirring speeches of his presidency in Normandy on the 40th anniversary of D-Day, he hailed “the boys of Pointe du Hoc,” the Army Rangers, who, despite gruesome casualties, scaled the cliffs on Omaha Beach.
That June 6, 1984, speech, written by Peggy Noonan, also took pains to credit “the unsurpassed courage of the Canadians who ... once they hit Juno Beach, they never looked back.” Of the 14,000 Canadian troops who landed on D-Day, more than 1,000 died in the first six days of the invasion.
With the Wisconsin GOP endorsement, state Sen. Leah Vukmir gains access to the state party’s campaign apparatus for the Republican primary. (Leah Vukmir for U.S. Senate via Facebook)
Wisconsin Senate candidate Leah Vukmir scored a crucial victory at the state GOP convention on Saturday, taking home the party’s endorsement with 72 percent of the vote.
It was a blow to Marine veteran and businessman Kevin Nicholson, the top spender so far in the Republican primary field.
Wisconsin GOP Senate hopeful Leah Vukmir aligned herself with CIA director nominee Gina Haspel against Sen. Tammy Baldwin and 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. (Leah Vukmir via Twitter)
For many states, primary season is “Tell us how you really feel” season.
And Wisconsin GOP Senate candidate Leah Vukmir feels she’s on “Team America,” while Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin is on “Team Terrorist.”
Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, and ranking member Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., have different views about blue slips for a judicial pick. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
For the third time in the Trump administration, Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles E. Grassley has moved forward with a confirmation hearing for an appeals court nominee over the objections of Democratic home-state senators.
The Iowa Republican set a Wednesday confirmation hearing on Ryan Bounds to be a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, even though Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley have declined to give their consent through the committee’s traditional process.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., discusses her childhood in a new campaign ad. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Kevin Nicholson gives a speech at the 2000 Democratic National Convention. (Courtesy C-SPAN)
Wisconsin Republican Senate candidate Kevin Nicholson said he questioned the “cognitive thought process” of military veterans in the Democratic Party.
Speaking in an interview on WTMJ-AM, Nicholson, who is running to challenge Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin, defended his claim that his service in the Marines is a conservative value.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, may seem like a sitting duck in Trump country, but Republicans don’t like their chances against him. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
When this election cycle began, handicappers repeatedly pointed out that 10 Democratic Senate incumbents from states carried by Donald Trump would be on the ballot in 2018. That count was accurate, and the point behind it obvious — Republicans had a long list of opportunities.
But now even the most partisan Republicans are acknowledging that the list of serious targets is shrinking to five or six states. Indiana, Missouri, West Virginia, North Dakota and Florida are certainly in play, but how are the other competitive Senate races holding up?
Save for later