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Louis Jacobson

Louis Jacobson

Contributor

Louis Jacobson is the senior correspondent at the fact-checking website PolitiFact. He is also senior author of the 2016 and 2018 editions of the Almanac of American Politics and was a contributing writer for the 2000 and 2004 editions. For Governing, Jacobson has written a column on state politics since the 2010 election cycle, including handicapping gubernatorial, state legislative and state attorney general races. Before that, he wrote a similar column for Stateline.org and Roll Call. He has also handicapped state and federal races for such publications as the Cook Political Report, the Rothenberg Political Report, PoliticsPA.com and the Tampa Bay Times. Earlier in his career, Jacobson served as deputy editor of the congressional newspaper Roll Call, as the founding editor of its affiliate, CongressNow, and as a staff correspondent at National Journal. In 2014, he received the Weidenbaum Center Award for Evidence-Based Journalism from Washington University in St. Louis, and in 2017, the Society of American Business Editors and Writers gave him a Best in Business award for his economics coverage.

While they likely won't win a majority nationwide, the party is poised to gain control of some chambers. How many depends on the size of the potential blue wave.
In seven states, third-party candidates could sway the outcome in November.
Just over half of the 36 gubernatorial races are competitive.
In governors' races, many of the challengers are decades younger than their state's current leader. And young voters may be more mobilized.
There are early, but scattered, signs that Democrats will use new tariffs as a wedge issue.
It was unusual 10 years ago. But that's changing.
They have become more competitive in three states -- all where Republicans are currently in power.
In the 10 states holding races, only one looks competitive.
When governors resign because of scandals or promotions, do their replacements run for a term of their own? And if they do, are they successful? A larger-than-normal number of replacement governors is on the campaign trail this year.
For now, it's the Republicans. Seven GOP-held AG seats, compared to three for the Democrats, are being hotly contested.