In an Arizona special election for Congress yesterday, the GOP candidate won by 53 to 47%. It's a heavily Republican district, so that result is not a surprise. It's also an election without an incumbent so the closeness is also not surprising. Finally, it's a special election, so the turnout is lower than normal, even in a midterm election. In addition, groups from outside the district poured money into ads and campaigning on both sides, so the normal dynamic of the district was distorted. In the end, however, things turned out pretty much as expected.
Now that the election has passed, I am somewhat surprised by the things I've heard said about it. I've seen a pundit, a supposed political expert, at CNN say that the results were a bad sign for the GOP because they were much closer than those of the last election in the district for Congress. That sounds fine on the surface until you realize that the Democrats did not run a candidate in the district in 2016. Congressman Franks won re-election with 100% of the vote. No matter what the results were yesterday, the results would have been much closer than in 2016. CNN is broadcasting a pundit who has no idea what she is talking about.
Much of the coverage has been of this sort. Most of the mainstream media types are busy declaring this result a "win" for the Democrats even though they lost. If this trend continues, the GOP could pick up seats in 2018 and the pundits would talk about the Democrats' great victory. To say the least, it's bizarre.
Now that the election has passed, I am somewhat surprised by the things I've heard said about it. I've seen a pundit, a supposed political expert, at CNN say that the results were a bad sign for the GOP because they were much closer than those of the last election in the district for Congress. That sounds fine on the surface until you realize that the Democrats did not run a candidate in the district in 2016. Congressman Franks won re-election with 100% of the vote. No matter what the results were yesterday, the results would have been much closer than in 2016. CNN is broadcasting a pundit who has no idea what she is talking about.
Much of the coverage has been of this sort. Most of the mainstream media types are busy declaring this result a "win" for the Democrats even though they lost. If this trend continues, the GOP could pick up seats in 2018 and the pundits would talk about the Democrats' great victory. To say the least, it's bizarre.
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