Republicans have a Midwest problem

(Image credit: Oliver Contreras - Pool/Getty Images)

published 15 October 2018

Republicans may have dominated the Midwest in the 2016 election. But it doesn't look like 2018 will deliver a sequel.

If today's polls remain steady, Democrats in Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania will hold their Senate spots and even pick up a few House and governors' seats, The Washington Post reports. In some cases, once vulnerable Democrats, including Sen. Tammy Baldwin (Wis.) and Sen. Sherrod Brown (Ohio), are even ahead by double digits.

It's an astonishing turnaround for the Democratic Party after President Trump unexpectedly flipped much of the Midwest in 2016, sweeping down-ballot Republicans into power alongside him. The Washington Post attributes the reversal to Trump's divisive behavior and policies fueling Democratic turnout, but some Republican strategists have a slightly different read. "We forget about the power of Hillary Clinton being on the ballot in 2016," a GOP consultant for the flagging Senate campaign of Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Penn.) told the Post, adding that if "if Hillary was on the ballot, Republicans would probably be doing better in all of these states."

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

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