[ad_1]
This article is part of The D.C. Brief, TIME’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to get stories like this sent to your inbox.
The national mood is iffy at best, facing a coin toss for which party will emerge victorious this election season. Polls show both parties are competitive in key races, the money race is an afterthought, and airwaves are backfilled with super PACs’ spending when the candidates themselves forget to dial for dollars. And enthusiasm among voters is high, even if the motivators for each party to head to the polls are as different as can be.
Still, elections are not national affairs. Each hamlet of roughly 700,000 Americans gets to pick its representative to the U.S. House, a few miles can separate a liberal stronghold in Washington state and a libertarian foothold in Idaho, and deep-blue Illinois and hard-red Indiana share a border. Anyone predicting a huge wave election would do well to consider this: a rising tide may lift all boats, but only if all boats are of the same size. And, to put it mildly, not all candidates or contests this midterm season are even in the same swimming pool. Localities matter in politics, and this year is a prime example of how just a few miles can make all the difference.
This week, with roughly a month to go until Election Day, The D.C. Brief will be touring 15 bellwether races in House, Senate, and governor match-ups, offering primers on five of the most telling races in each category. For instance, what do voters need to know about that race in a majority-Hispanic district in Texas that sent a Republican to Congress for the first time ever? Or what about a race that could be a rematch between the first Alaska Native representing Alaska in the House and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin? How are Latinos’ fracturing loyalties to Democrats going to affect the Senate races in Arizona and Nevada? In states with…
[ad_2]
Source : time
