Opinion

After a year off from the grind that is political campaigns (excluding special elections) it is time for Americans to hop back in the saddle and get ready for the 2018 midterm elections.

For most Americans, 2016 was a rough political season as hostilities from both the left and right seemed hotter than usual. Its two years later and it doesn’t seem like any of the hostilities have lightened up.

Here are the numbers heading into these elections; 34 seats are up in the Senate (26 held by Democrats and 8 held by Republicans) and every House seat is up as it is every two years.

Democrats are riding high hopes heading into 2018 with favorable polling and an unpopular president of the opposing party in the White House.  Usually one or both of these variables work well for the minority party in Congress as we saw in 2010 and 2012.  History has shown that it is better to be the party from behind in these elections.

While Republicans have the odds stacked against them, there is still hope for some victory.

While the House may be a crap shoot, in the Senate there are overwhelmingly more Democrat seats up than Republican.  The Republican seats that are up are in favorable places for Republicans like Texas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona and Nebraska.  While Democrats would point to Alabama’s special election victory as evidence of possible success in red states, let’s be real, the Republicans could have run a washing machine and beaten Doug Jones but instead they chose poorly in one of the most poisonous candidates in Roy Moore.

However, running with an unpopular president leading your party makes it harder for a political party to run based merely on policy.  However, the one policy item that they’re sure to run on is usually a slam dunk, the economy.

While the GOP tax bill had some up and down polling as it was being passed, the overall economy is doing exceptional with the stock market hitting new highs multiple times in 2017 and recently.  And with more and more companies giving out bonuses and raising wages citing the tax bill, the Republicans are sure to try and rally behind this.

With that being said as stated earlier, Republicans still have more of an uphill battle. Even if the president was not as controversial as he is, the Democrats sit as the minority party.  There might not be any way to excite a base more than having no power and having your metaphorical world be ending.

So sit back, relax and get ready for some nasty partisan fighting on your social media, non-stop political campaign commercials and endless amounts of signs picketed at every street corner.