STRAIGHT FLUSH

As election prognostications continue to ramp up, some political wonks believe the 2020 fight over the House of Representatives is over – and it’s staying in Democratic hands, possibly with a larger majority. That’s actually the headline from a recent Roll Call, a congressional and White House-focused newspaper, as well as Cook Political Report, which stated, “Of the major political handicappers, not even one of them thinks the House is likely to flip in November,” calling President Donald Trump an “albatross.” Roll Call noted that while Trump carried Michigan’s 11th and 8th congressional districts, they both flipped blue in 2018 – in the 11th, which covers Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Troy, Commerce Township, western Oakland and Wayne counties, by Democrat Haley Stevens, and in the 8th District, of Rochester, Rochester Hills, northern Oakland County, and parts of Livingston and Ingham counties, by Democrat Elissa Slotkin. “Now, both freshmen look poised to win second terms against less-than-sterling opposition,” Roll Call said. A Michigan Republican pollster concurred, noting they are both in very positive positions, though he said Slotkin could encounter some voters who are angry that she voted for impeachment. “If you’re a serious candidate, why would you run now against them when the districts will be redrawn in two years?” he asked. “Why would you waste your capital?” Not that Slotkin or Stevens, who recently got engaged to a fellow Seaholm High School grad, won’t have to work for their re-election in November, but with the current political climate, they are currently in the driver’s seat.