UPDATED Midnight EST, November 20, 2018. As of this writing, Democrats have netted 38 seats in the United States House of Representatives, with three races still to be called. Democrat Ben McAdams narrowly leads incumbent Republican Mia Love in Utah's 4th Congressional District (CD), while Democrats trail narrowly in California's 21st and Georgia's 7th CD. … Continue reading An update on projected 2018 Democratic U. S. House seat gains
Category: Politics
Projected 2018 Democratic U.S. House seat gains
This piece (only available to subscribers) appeared earlier today on Taegan Goddard’s absolutely essential Political Wire. A new Brennan Center report says “extreme gerrymandering” could cost Democrats control of the House unless they ride a massive blue wave. Because of maps designed to favor Republicans, Democrats would need to win by a nearly unprecedented nationwide margin in … Continue reading Projected 2018 Democratic U.S. House seat gains
A less-wicked-early look at the 2018 U.S. Senate Elections
In this May 2017 post, I took a “wicked early” look at the 2018 U.S. Senate (Senate) races. Depending on whether Democrat Doug Jones or Republican Roy Moore wins the December 12 special Senate election in Alabama, Republicans will control 51 or 52 Senate seats heading into the 2018 midterm elections. Democrats (46 or 47 … Continue reading A less-wicked-early look at the 2018 U.S. Senate Elections
Doctor, validate thyself!
I recently wrote about my long-term fascination with American electoral geography, the way voting patterns are distributed across states, Congressional districts, counties and other areal units. Pursuing this interest as an undergraduate political science major, I began to explore state-level presidential voting data. During my junior year, I created a large chart that ranked how … Continue reading Doctor, validate thyself!
The 2016 U.S. presidential election viewed through one statistic
The 2016 United States (U.S.) presidential election is one of those elections (1948, 1960, 1968 and 2000 also come to mind) people will be re-hashing as long as the U.S. continues to HAVE presidential elections. I have already shared data-driven thoughts on the 2016 U.S. presidential election here, here, here, here, here and here. Grounding … Continue reading The 2016 U.S. presidential election viewed through one statistic
Unpacking Twitter arguments, both coherent and incoherent
Following ratification of the United States Constitution (Constitution) on September 17, 1787, debate ensued over whether it sufficiently safeguarded individual liberties. James Madison, then a United States House of Representatives (House) member, responded by drafting a set of Amendments, which he presented to the House as directed in Article V. Seventeen Amendments won the necessary … Continue reading Unpacking Twitter arguments, both coherent and incoherent
Positively pondering pesky probabilities, perchance
One inspiration to start this “data-driven storytelling” blog was the pioneering work of Nate Silver and his fellow data journalists at FiveThirtyEight.com; their analyses are an essential “critical thinking” reality check to my own conclusions and perceptions. Indeed, when I finally get around to designing and teaching my course on critical thinking (along with my … Continue reading Positively pondering pesky probabilities, perchance
Where do rank-and-file Democrats (and Independents) stand on issues right now?
In the wake of Democratic underperformance in the 2016 elections (losing the Electoral College, insufficient gains to win back the United States House of Representatives [House] or United States Senate [Senate], net loss of two governorships, hemorrhaging state legislative seats), various “autopsies” were released. Some autopsies reached conclusions that contradicted the finding of other autopsies … Continue reading Where do rank-and-file Democrats (and Independents) stand on issues right now?
First thoughts on the Senate vote NOT to repeal the ACA
At 1:29 am EST on July 28, 2017, the last of three closely-watched Republican United States Senators (Senators) announced their votes on the “skinny repeal” bill, a bill intended to partially repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka ACA, aka Obamacare). According to Anna Maria Barry-Jester of the data journalism website FiveThirtyEight.com, the … Continue reading First thoughts on the Senate vote NOT to repeal the ACA
July 2017 Odds and Ends
My wife tells me that she gets annoyed when blogs she follows take too much time between posts. For mostly travel-related reasons, I have not been able to post a full article since July 6, and I will not be able to do so again for another week at least. Since my preference is never … Continue reading July 2017 Odds and Ends
Just Bear With Me... 