A few weeks before the 2010 election, I ran into then-House Minority Leader John Boehner at a reception. President Obama’s approval ratings were tanking, the Affordable Care Act that had passed earlier in the year was exceedingly unpopular, and, unsurprisingly, Democrats were in a free fall. Boehner saw me, walked over, leaned in, and said quietly, “We’re going to win this thing.” Then he paused and turned it into a question, “Aren’t we?” I laughed and replied something like, “Yup, I think you are.” Boehner’s response was, “Damnedest thing I ever saw.” Republicans were about to recapture the majority they had lost four years earlier, and only because Democrats were self-destructing. When Boehner announced last week that he was stepping down from the speakership and resigning from Congress next month, I thought about that conversation. This year it seemed like, in very different ways, both parties are at risk of self-destructing. Republicans seem hell-bent on committing self-immolation on both the presidential and congressional levels. Democrats, who pretty much settled on a presidential nominee early on, now find their front-runner hopelessly
Subscribe Today
Our subscribers have first access to individual race pages for each House, Senate and Governors race, which will include race ratings (each race is rated on a seven-point scale) and a narrative analysis pertaining to that race.