Inside the Beltway, Mike Bost was the unhinged Republican known for his rant on the floor of the Illinois Legislature and for shooting a caged beagle. So how did he defeat a Democratic incumbent by more than 10 points?
What looked like an angry liability to many Washington, D.C.…
It takes quite a feat for a Republican congressman to lose re-election in the middle of a historically-good election for the GOP. But that’s exactly what Nebraska Rep. Lee Terry and Florida Rep. Steve Southerland pulled off in 2014.
Nearly 99 percent of all GOP incumbents seeking re-election in…
Well, we’ve made it through another strange political year — and let’s face it, they are all strange — so it’s time for me to devote another column to picking the best, the worst and the weirdest candidates, campaigns and outcomes of the year.
As always, I will…
Broken campaign promises complicate a politician’s re-election effort, but they don’t have to be fatal.
This cycle, when faced with their own words from a previous campaign, two incumbents utilized different strategies in their quest for another term.
One of the most famous examples of a broken…
Before the holiday, I had a piece on FiveThirtyEight.com talking about so-called "anti-incumbent elections." A couple of excerpts are below but feel free to read the whole piece.
Despite a stunningly low congressional approval rating and many calls to “throw all the bums…
Every election cycle is filled with twists and turns, upsets and surprises. And every cycle is filled with goofy arguments, warnings about things that never happen and unsurprising outcomes that surprise only the politically uneducated.
For me, the biggest surprises included Dave Brat’s primary upset of House Majority…
Congress is filled with a bunch of losers, but not exactly in the way you’re thinking.
In the wake of the elections, it’s easy to second-guess losing candidates and their campaigns, and to discount their chances of ever winning a seat in Congress. But at least 27 incoming…
It seems like historic elections are the norm lately. As many Americans continue to feel uncertain about the economy and jaded about politicians, the electoral environment continues to be volatile. In this month’s midterm elections, much of the frustration was taken out on President Barack Obama through candidates and…
Not so long ago, it looked as if the entire political world would descend on Louisiana for the state’s December 6 runoff because the Senate majority hinged on the outcome of that contest. But that scenario was washed away by strong Republican gains earlier this month. Still, the trio…
There’s plenty of discussion about the difference between midterm and presidential electorates, but there is one emerging constant: the white evangelical vote.
At least one interest group, Ralph Reed’s Faith & Freedom Coalition, claimed that conservative Christians played a “decisive role” in the recent midterm elections.…
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