The news just seems to get worse for House Republicans.
A day after House Speaker Paul Ryan announced that he would not seek reelection to a GOP leaning seat he has easily won since 1998, that seat has been rated a “toss-up” by one of the best election prognosticators out there.
The “Larry Sabato Crystal Ball,” the weekly elections update from the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, admitted it was vexed on how to rate the seat.
But when considering the recent anti-GOP trend in elections and President Trump’s unpopularity nationally, though not in Ryan’s Janesville, Wisc., district, it had no choice.
“The district’s recent Republicanism forms the argument for making the district ‘Leans Republican.’ However, it’s hard to give Republicans much of a benefit of the doubt in most places given the president’s weak approval rating, the tendency for the president’s party to lose ground in the House in midterms, and the extra level of exposure the president’s party has in defending open seats,” wrote Kyle Kondik, managing editor, Sabato’s Crystal Ball.
“So we’re going to start the WI-1 open seat race as a ‘Toss-up,’ while also acknowledging the uphill climb Democrats ultimately may have there,” he added.
