Democrats may be looking to play hardball in the 2018 midterm elections, reviving the playbook they used in 2006 to challenge Republicans and take back control of the House and Senate.
Contests are brewing in almost every House seat up for reelection, according to reports,
Nearly 500 Democratic candidates are already planning to run in House races, Politico reported Monday, marking a 50 percent increase in candidates who see a challenge to the agenda of President Donald Trump as a winning ticket.
That number could reach 1,000, with one political observer predicting a Democratic challenge in all 435 House races.
"Democrats will likely have robust primaries in many and I would be surprised if there aren't Democratic challengers in all of them," Quentin Kidd, vice provost and director of Christopher Newport University's Wason Center for Public Policy told the Washington Examiner.
In 2006, midway through former President George W. Bush's second term, Democrats retook control of both the House and Senate. It was the first time in 12 years Democrats were in control of both houses of Congress, CNN reported.
Mark J. Rozell, dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, said the political climate in Washington and "a polarizing president who has low approval ratings" could provide Democrats with the opening they needed to win elections. He predicted "the possibility of a large turnover midterm election year in 2018."
However, Kyle Kondik, managing editor of the national political "Crystal Ball" founded by the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, said the party may find candidates who are young and lack experience.
"It may be that Democratic leaders will not always get the candidates they prefer in certain districts, a reality with which Republicans became familiar over the past several cycles," he told the Examiner.
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