People to watch
The presidential race has riveted Americans — and the rest of the world — but there are other key contests worth following. They include:
Mia Love and Will Hurd As alarm swept through the Republican Party that “down-ballot” Republicans may be swept away in a Hillary Clinton victory, attention turned to Love and Hurd, the only two African American Republicans in the U.S. House. In Utah, Love, seen as an up-and-comer for the GOP, leads her 2014 opponent Doug Owens in polls but they also see Owens gaining momentum in a state that is traditionally safe for Republicans.
Meanwhile, Hurd is facing former Democratic House member Pete Gallego in their district along the TexasMexico border. The belief is that Hurd may be hurt by Trump’s comments on immigration and the border wall he wants to build. Hurd beat Gallego two years ago and publicly dumped Donald Trump in mid-October.
Evan McMullin McMullin has grabbed the attention of the national media as the candidate who could swing the election. McMullin, a former CIA operative, is running as an independent in Utah, which has six electoral college votes. While he was given only a 31-per-cent chance of winning the state (versus Trump’s 65), he has risen steadily in the polls since mid-October.
Evan Bayh Democratic candidate Bayh returned to politics this summer in a bid to take over the Indiana seat of Republican Sen. Dan Coats, who is retiring. Given that he held the seat until 2010 and that his father was the senator from Indiana for nearly two decades, it looked easy.
But Republicans rallied around their candidate, Todd Young, spending bags of money in a campaign to portray Bayh as the worst kind of Washington insider — massive personal wealth post-Senate (he and his wife submitted personal assets of up to $48 million U.S.), enthusiastic lobbyist etc.
Bayh started the campaign with a chance of winning in the high 90s and now stands at 57 per cent.
In a state as red as Indiana, home of Gov. Mike Pence, Trump’s running mate, to pull off this win will be a significant rally for Democrats.
Catherine Cortez Masto Cortez Masto was hand-picked by retiring Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid to run in Nevada in what was supposed to be a safe Democratic seat. It hasn’t quite turned out that way.
The central issue of who should control Nevada’s public lands has pitted Cortez Masto and her opponent, Republican Rep. Joe Heck, on far sides of a bitter debate. Cortez Masto’s lead was strong until mid-October when her numbers fell dramatically and Heck surged as Republicans took to TV ads that skewered Cortez Masto’s record while state AG. Now, the race appears to be a toss-up.