A few candidates may change politics in America On « How Midterms Work », I gave you a small glimpse on how the upcoming election is designed. Today, let’s try and understand why some candidates may change America and its politics for the next few years. Let’s continue our journey towards the other side of the mountain. To truly understand the possibility of a great modification in US politics as it is nowadays, one must understand where the candidates are coming from and what races they will be fighting. November will be the site of more than 500 races, and in more or less metaphorical battles, Democrats and Republicans will try their best to secure the majority for themselves. As they are, as you probably already know, the two main parties in the US at the moment governing every election. Democrats wish to prevent the most extreme of President Trump’s schemes and to weaken him for the next presidential election. Most Republicans are obviously looking for the other way around. To win, Democrats need to keep their 194 seats and to take at least 24 seats from the Republicans in the House of Representatives, and they need to keep their 26 seats in the Senate and take at least 3 more on the 35 seats at stake. Democrats and Republicans are thus having races in the states, which are called in political terms –usually for presidential election- red states, blue states and swing states. Red states are most likely to vote for Republicans, and blue ones for Democrats. Red states follow more conservative policies and blue ones more liberal policies ; Texas is a typical red states while Hawaii is a typical blue one. Together they are being referred as safe states. However, there are the states without a very clear line draw between the two parties and the states where the allegiance is changing. Those are called swing states. Again, it is a term mostly used for presidential election, but it can also be applied to Midterms. Swing states are where the races depend on the parties and candidates’ efforts to win as there is not a favourite party. A state can become a swing one depending on the election, as for example Ohio which used to be a complete swing state – voting for Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama- is now turning slightly red. While swing state Minnesota has seen its primary turnout strong in Democrat participation. One can understand that nothing is totally secured as it can be seen in constantly changing polls. As, indeed, Democrats used to have a strong opportunity to win the majority and now the Kavanaugh’s case may be the cause of a Republicans’ rising. The barely visible line between parties in swing states –and sometimes even in traditionally safe states- is what makes the candidates so important. They carry the entire election on their shoulders, and may change how politics in America is going to be until the next election, and will have an impact on said election. They also constitute a great portrayal of Americans’ mentalities. That is why, from now on, on the basis of two profiles a week, we are going to take a closer look at some of these candidates. Stay tuned to discover America’s future congressmen and women. AuteurMina Haki
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