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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.

Voter ID battles and cybersecurity concerns have intensified and elevated these races. Republicans have more seats -- and the most to lose.
History suggests that the answer is yes -- but 2018 is a unique year.
Republicans can take some comfort that their state legislative dominance is unlikely to evaporate in a single election cycle.
While they're rarely successful, efforts to remove state Supreme Court justices over policy disagreements are becoming more common.
In the 36 gubernatorial races this fall, all but 10 of the states are currently led by Republicans.
Most states limit governors to two terms, but not New York and Wisconsin, where Andrew Cuomo and Scott Walker are both seeking reelection this year.
Waves usually just influence congressional seats. But a look at past wave elections tells a different story.
Key GOP-held attorneys general seats are becoming more competitive, paving the way for Democrats to possibly flip their balance in the states.
In 2009, Louis Jacobson ranked the states with the worst leadership and policy challenges. Almost a decade later, what's changed?
More than a dozen cases on partisan and racial gerrymandering are winding their way through the court system. Two cases, in particular, could become two of the most important this decade.