Our most recent book is titled Divided We Stand: The 2020 Elections and American Politics. Among other things, it discusses state and congressional elections.
House Democrats are turning to unlikely saviors to help their nominees win in difficult districts: third-party candidates.
In Montana, Ohio and Alaska, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is signaling to its allies that they should boost Libertarians or independent candidates in three targeted House races. All three seats were won by former President Donald Trump in 2020 and it will be difficult for Democrats to win them without siphoning off Trump’s voters from the GOP congressional candidate.
The DCCC previewed the strategy on messaging websites often referred to as “red boxes” — a public and legal way for them to signal outside groups under campaign finance law. The House GOP campaign arm is also asking its allies to get involved in Alaska, where the top four vote-getters advanced from the all-party primary. If no candidate gets more than 50 percent in the general election, the race proceeds to ranked-choice voting.
In Alaska, a super PAC allied with House Democrats has already answered the DCCC request. Another Democratic-aligned group has waded into Montana.
