8 days until the midterm elections: Where things stand

Rep. Ted Budd, R-N.C., has one big advantage over his opponent, Democratic challenger Kathy Manning: The 13th District’s map was intentionally drawn to privilege Republicans. Budd defended gerrymandering, saying that unless the Supreme Court says otherwise, “it is constitutional to politically gerrymander.” Gerrymandering, which has helped Democrats in the past, is more likely to help Republicans this time because the GOP controlled the redistricting process in more states after the 2010 census. Two-term Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., is spending much of her reelection campaign’s final stretch stumping in and around heavily Republican Webster County, which President Trump won by nearly 80 percent of the vote two years ago.

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