Once-safe Republican districts suddenly in play as Democrats expand the map
The campaign for control of Congress is suddenly playing out across a far larger swath of the country than either party had previously expected, with Tuesday’s special House election in the Pittsburgh suburbs showing how President Trump’s unpopularity is turning many once-safe Republican districts into battlegrounds in this year’s midterm elections.
GOP incumbents who have rarely, if ever, faced a viable challenger are being forced to build campaign operations, raise money and make more frequent appearances across their districts.
And Democrats who have long intended to make their stand in a few dozen evenly divided districts now say the results in Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District, which Trump carried by nearly 20 points two years ago, suggest the battleground may expand to more than 100 districts where the president’s margin was smaller.
Many of those newly contested races are starting to come into focus in suburbs where, like the neighborhoods outside Pittsburgh that backed Democrat Conor Lamb, mainstream GOP voters embraced Trump in 2016 but have been drifting away in recent months.
The new dynamic is apparent near Houston, where nine-term Republican Rep. John Abney Culberson has never faced a serious Democratic challenger but is now furiously raising money and promoting his constituent work. His opponent, who will be chosen in a May runoff, will have plenty of cash for the November fight.
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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/once-safe-republican-districts-suddenly-in-play-as-democrats-expand-the-map/ar-BBKlDeJ?ocid=spartandhp
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Must keep at it.
