Our most recent book is titled Divided We Stand: The 2020 Elections and American Politics. Among other things, it discusses state and congressional elections.
The House GOP's worst fears are being confirmed, after they privately sounded the alarm all summer about getting outgunned.
Why it matters: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y) and his allies are outspending Republicans in nine of the 10 most expensive House races of the cycle.Still, seven of the most expensive seats are currently held by Democrats, bolstering the GOP's view that they are on offense in 2024.
Money won't decide who controls of Congress, but it provides a clear advantage.
By the numbers: In the 10 most expensive races, the candidates, parties and outside super PACs are on track to spend $283 million in TV and digital ads, according to data compiled by AdImpact. More money could be dropping.
Representative Mike Lawler of New York wore blackface as part of a Halloween costume when he was a college student almost two decades ago, according to photographs recently obtained by The New York Times.
The images, taken around October 2006, show a 20-year-old Mr. Lawler at a campus social gathering dressed as Michael Jackson. He is wearing a black shirt and a red jacket and, in one photo, is striking a signature Jackson dance pose. His face has also been visibly darkened.
Kids do stupid things, but this is the more disturbing part:
In 2005, as a high school senior, Mr. Lawler flew from New York to California to attend parts of Jackson’s criminal trial. The pop star had been charged with molesting a 13-year-old boy at his Neverland Ranch; the case ended in acquittal.
J. Randy Taraborrelli, a Jackson biographer, helped get Mr. Lawler into the courtroom and recalled in his book that the young fan had been “so disgusted” by testimony against Jackson “that he couldn’t help but mutter something derogatory under his breath.” Mr. Lawler was removed from the courtroom, according to Mr. Taraborrelli’s biography, “Michael Jackson: The Magic, the Madness, the Whole Story.”
No doubt the Lawler revelation was the result of oppo. At NPR, Deirdre Walsh reports on the coordinated campaign in New York State:
Gillibrand, Hochul, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and state party leaders have opened 40 offices in seven House districts and hired 100 full-time staffers. Republicans have just five similar "battle station" offices.
Democrats linked state and local party operations. That effort has allowed them to make over 2 million contacts with voters between knocking on doors and phone calls, according to a spokeswoman for Hochul.
The strategy focuses on a more sophisticated get-out-the-vote effort, but it also includes going on offense on the issues that hurt the party the most two years ago — crime and immigration.
