Next year’s midterm elections figure to have fewer competitive House seats than 2012 and 2010.
Roll Call’s Stuart Rothenberg says there are just 49 competitive seats next year (Utah’s 4th Congressional District is on the list), which is down from 68 in 2012 and 109 in 2010.
Rothenberg says that’s partially because there doesn’t seem to be a partisan wave in either direction developing, and it means that there will be more spending in the few seats that could swing to either side.
The fewer number of competitive states and seats also means fewer places to spend money.
“But in this election, certain races will be even more intensely bombarded with outside cash, due to a shrunken House playing field and the high-stakes fight over the Senate, which Democrats control only narrowly,” according to Eliza Newlin Carney’s piece on concentrated campaign spending ($) in the new issue of “CQ Weekly.”
So even though there is plenty of attention on month-to-month candidate and campaign committee fundraising, the first- and second-tier races are not likely to be won or lost because of money.
