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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.

The results in several contested races could provide a small amount of solace to Democrats.
The Republicans will end up increasing the number of state chambers they control by nine.
Republicans racked up victories in contests for lieutenant governor, secretary of state and school superintendent.
The party was able to flip open seats in Arkansas and Nevada and now leads Democrats in attorney general offices nationally.
Republicans not only defended their most vulnerable governors, they flipped several blue states.
Though overshadowed by the gubernatorial and state legislative races, the contests for lieutenant governor, secretary of state and state school superintendent can be high-stakes battles.
Our final pre-election handicapping of the gubernatorial, attorney general and legislative contests.
Tea Party candidates infiltrated the U.S. Senate primaries this year, but the group failed to form any real challenges to Republican governors.
Unlike four years ago, incumbent governors are most vulnerable this election cycle. We've rated every race.
Recognizing the vast influence that judges can have on state policy, their races have received a lot of money this election year.