The five battlefields for control of the House

The November election for Democratic or Republican control of the House of Representatives will come down to roughly 75 seats that are most competitive this fall.

You can’t possibly keep track of all those districts and candidates across the country.

Consider this your field guide to the fight for the House.

We grouped the 75 districts into five main battlefields — not by what part of the country they are in, but by the social and cultural characteristics they share.

In our analysis, we looked at how Democrats and Republicans will try to piece together a House majority from across these voting blocs. Democrats need to pick up 23 seats to take the House from Republicans.

— Alexander Burns

Metro melting pot

These are booming areas in and around major cities, where growing Hispanic and Asian-american communities are fueling Democratic gains and President Donald Trump is intensely unpopular. Fourteen districts: Arizona (Second); California (25th, 39th, 49th); Colorado (Sixth); Florida (26th, 27th); Georgia (Sixth); Nevada (Third); New York (11th); Ohio (First); Texas (Seventh, 32nd); and Virginia (10th).

Profile: California’s 25th District

The sizzling-hot day in the Santa Clarita Valley seemed far away inside the air-conditioned food court where Victoria Rust, 57, waited for a cheese pizza. Seeking refuge from the scorching heat is a familiar exercise for voters in California’s 25th Congressional District, a territory that rolls over three valleys north of Los Angeles.

A lifelong Republican, Rust shows why the party is vulnerable in districts like this one — a diverse, densely packed suburb outside a major coastal city. Rust said she was “ashamed” to associate with the Republican Party because of Trump; like many voters here, she voted for Hillary Clinton.

There are 14 of these districts up for grabs, making up what may be the most important stretch of territory for Democrats: districts outside of major cities like Denver, Houston and Miami, defined by their diversity and relatively high levels of educational attainment. They look like many districts Democrats already hold.

Big stretches of the 25th remain welcoming to Republicans: Simi Valley, home to backyard horse trails and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, remains largely white and conservative. Rep. Steve Knight, a former police officer from a local political family, has held the district for Republicans since 2015.

But roughly 40 percent of the district is now Hispanic, and even the white population is changing as younger families come seeking affordable housing. Clinton carried the 25th by 7 percentage points.

At a children’s salon in Lancaster, about an hour east of Valencia, Natalie Iniguez, 32, said she also voted for Clinton. As her daughter, Annabel, held out her fingers for a manicure, Iniguez lamented the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

“I care about a lot of stuff changing,” said Iniguez, a Democrat.

To win these House seats, Democrats are trying to woo disaffected Republicans like Rust and to energize left-leaning voters like Iniguez. (Left-leaning Democrats

SALLY RYAN / THE NEW YORK TIMES Jane Melvin, 55, Glen Ellyn, Ill., says she has typically voted Republican in the past and still yearns for a version of the party that has been fading away. Melvin said she had long supported her congressman, Peter Roskam, but was reconsidering this year because Republicans had failed to check the president. “It’s a character question and a silence question,” she said. “Because they won’t stand up to Trump and say this is wrong.”