Do You Live in a Competitive Congressional District?
It’s mere days from the 2016 presidential election, but that’s far from the only race on the ballot. And some of these down-ticket House of Representatives races are currently running neck-and-neck. Thanks to a pair of online resources, you can easily find out where all the close races are happening.
First is The Cook Political Report, an independent, non-partisan newsletter that analyzes elections, campaigns and various U.S. political trends. The group has identified several House races it categorizes as either “likely,” “lean” or “toss-up.”
For the lean category, races are considered competitive, but one party has an advantage. For toss-ups, Cook assigns either party as having a good chance of winning. For the 2016 House elections, it has assigned several districts as “lean” or “toss-up,” including 12 Midwestern districts. Those are:
| IA-01 | IA-03 | IL-10 |
| IN-09 | KS-03 | MI-01 |
| MI-07 | MN-02 | MN-03 |
| MN-08 | NE-02 | WI-08 |
Data and analytics expert Sharon Machlis took the data and turned it into a “proof-of-concept of an idea” – a web application that lets users search how close they are to these competitive districts. The interactive map with these districts highlighted is at www.machlis.com/elections/CongressionalDistricts/.
For AgWeb’s ongoing 2016 election coverage, go to http://bit.ly/2f1dJmN.
