November is coming into focus
Image: Indiana Daily Student
Midterm primary elections were held in Wyoming and Alaska this week, two of the last half-dozen or so states to hold such contests ahead of congressional elections on November 8.
⛰️ Wyoming: GOP Rep. Liz Cheney – an outspoken critic of former President Trump and ranking member of the House Jan. 6 committee – was thoroughly defeated by Trump-backed challenger Harriet Hageman in a party primary for the state’s only House seat; data showed a 66-29 margin with 99% of the vote counted.
❄️ Alaska: Incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski advanced to the general election along with her chief rival and fellow GOP member Kelly Tshibaka and Democratic challenger Patricia Chesbro as part of the state’s new open primary system, where the top-4 vote getters advance regardless of political affiliation. It’s currently unclear who the last candidate will be, as ballots are still being counted.
🇺🇸 Big picture: Take a peek at the Democratic and Republican primary results and midterm election previews for all 50 states here.
☝️ Zoom out: Democrats currently hold a slim lead over Republicans on a generic congressional ballot for the first time all year, per data from RealClearPolitics. Meanwhile, FiveThirtyEight projects there’s a 36% chance Republicans take back control of the evenly-divided Senate, and a 77% chance the GOP wrests back the House from Democrats (who currently have a nine-seat lead).
- Historically, a first-term president’s party usually suffers some losses in the midterms – especially when that president is as unpopular nationally as Biden, who currently hovers around ~40% job approval.
📊 Flash poll: If the midterms were held today, which Congressional candidate would you vote for?
See a 360° view of what the media is saying →
Sprinkles from the Left
- Some commentators argue that Republicans Liz Cheney and Lisa Murkowski are examples of principled individuals who refuse to put what’s best for their political party above what they believe is best for America.
- Others contend that Democrats currently have a much higher chance of holding on to their slim leads in both houses of Congress, after election results and polling in recent weeks shows Republicans have given up much of their gains from earlier this year.
- “Liz Cheney and Lisa Murkowski Face Their Voters” –NY Times Editorial Board
- “Democrats Are Pulling Ahead of Republicans, Just in Time for Midterms” –Matthew Yglesias, Vox co-founder & Bloomberg columnist
- “This Congress has gotten more done than you might realize” –WaPo Editorial Board
Sprinkles from the Right
- Some commentators argue that the reason Liz Cheney was soundly defeated by a GOP challenger was twofold: she both bravely stood up to the stolen-election falsehoods of Trump, but also alienated too many Republicans by making common cause with Democrats, like those of the Jan. 6 committee.
- Others contend that RINOs like Liz Cheney spend most of their time ignoring the will of their constituents and the issues of concern to local voters, instead trying to chase national clout on network TV or elsewhere.
- “Cheney, Trump and the GOP” –WSJ Editorial Board
- “Lame duck Liz Cheney” –Washington Times Editorial Board
- “Lisa Murkowski is showing the limits of political extremism” –Henry Olsen, WaPo
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