ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the “macro-political” factors that affected all 435 House races and 35 Senate races in the 2018 election cycle. Macro-political factors include the national-level forces over which candidates have no real control, but to which their campaigns must respond. In midterm elections, presidents traditionally travel around the country to campaign for US House and Senate candidates from their party, and in the summer of 2018, President Donald J. Trump was no exception. “Micro-political” dynamics include those factors related to the candidate, or the campaign the candidate runs. A litany of items made Donald Trump’s time in national politics unique, or at the very least, unusual. With job approval ratings in the range of President Trump’s, it does not take much imagination to predict what a midterm referendum would mean for Republican candidates running for US House and Senate seats. : The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
