Free Republic

The race for control of the lower chamber of Congress is a toss-up, according to a new poll. The CBS News/YouGov Battleground Tracker shows that if the 2018 midterm elections happened now, Democrats would take 219 seats in the House, while Republicans would take 216. The tracker has a margin of error of nine seats, making this year’s race for control a toss-up between the two parties. The poll's results come as Democrats and Republicans prepare for November's midterm elections, when Republicans will defend their majority against a Democratic attempt to flip the lower chamber. A slim majority of individuals,...

Despite poor polling and a recent corruption trial that ended in a hung jury, Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., has few 2018 challengers because of the unpopularity of President Donald Trump and the GOP, Politico reported. Richard Pezzullo, the runner-up in the New Jersey Republican 2014 Senate primary, is the sole candidate currently for the GOP nomination next year, the outlet reported. He told Politico he, too, is puzzled by the lack of candidates.

Senate Democrats facing tough re-election battles in 2018 may have to decide if they want to hang a political anchor around their necks by joining a filibuster against Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Trump's highly credentialed Supreme Court nominee. Predictably, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) threatened to filibuster Gorsuch in an op-ed on Politico.com and another in The New York Times, demanding 60 votes to confirm, rather than a simple majority as the Constitution allows. Schumer called Gorsuch "very smart, articulate and polite, with superb judicial demeanor" but not "mainstream." Here's what Schumer thinks is "mainstream." "Senseless in Seattle and...