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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.

Governors like Mitt Romney have typically lost popularity at home when they made a run for the presidency. Will the current governors being talked about as potential 2016 candidates suffer the same fate?
Democrats hold fewer chambers but have more at risk this year than Republicans. Here's a breakdown of what to expect in every state legislature's elections.
A surprising number of this year's rising stars are seeking higher office.
Which incumbent governors face a tough road ahead and which are expected to win re-election easily?
Several state-run insurance exchanges have verged on disastrous, but the states may be too blue to give Republican gubernatorial candidates much of a boost.
Senate races can have coattails for gubernatorial contests, but the impact is far from guaranteed.
With voter ID laws a bone of contention, more attention and money is flowing to state secretary of state contests.
They may not have a big impact on elections this November, but that could change down the road.
The cumulative impact of voting-rule changes on the outcome of several key state races in November looks to be hit or miss.
Republicans hold the lead in governorships, but Democrats may be making slight gains in this year's gubernatorial races.