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Eight days for candidates in West Virginia’s District 2 and District 3

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — With a week to go until Election Day, the House Editor for The Cook Political Report says it’s possible 3rd District Congressman Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.), who was first elected in 1976, is now the most vulnerable Democratic U.S. House incumbent in the country.

“That’s not saying he’s doomed,” David Wasserman was quick to add on Monday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”

“Rahall, it’s amazing that he’s served 38 years and this is the toughest race that he’s faced.” Wasserman said Rahall “escaped” in 2010 and 2012 because of “weak” opponents, but he said that’s not the case ahead of the 2014 general election.

State Senator Evan Jenkins (R-Cabell) changed political parties to challenge Rahall in a campaign that started long before the May primary election.

“What’s amazing is just that this race has attracted almost $10 million in outside group spending and, yet, the needle has moved so little,” Wasserman noted.

The Cook Politicial Report currently has West Virginia’s 3rd Congressional District classified as a “toss-up.”

Ian Prior, a regional press secretary for the National Republican Congressional Committee, agreed with the analysis. “I think anyone that says this isn’t going to be a close race is out of their minds. This is a very, very close race,” Prior said.

“But I do think, given the year that it is, given (President Barack) Obama’s approval ratings being in the low to mid-20s in West Virginia 3, I think the undecideds are going to break for Jenkins.”

Wasserman said the race in the 2nd Congressional District is somewhere between “leans Republican” and a “toss-up,” though it is called “leans Republican” in the Cook Political Report.

Alex Mooney, a former Republican Maryland legislator, and Nick Casey, a former West Virginia Democratic Party chair, are seeking the U.S. House seat Republican Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) currently holds.

“These races usually break towards the party that has an advantage in the district,” Wasserman said.

“The trouble is, in West Virginia, it’s really difficult to identify which party has a fundamental advantage because there are still more voters that consider themselves Democrats at the local level and, yet, voters are overwhelmingly disapproving of President Obama.”

In recent weeks, Casey has picked up his attacks on Mooney and, Wasserman said, those attacks — citing Mooney’s move to Charles Town in West Virginia from Maryland in 2013 — may be working.

“Alex Mooney, by virtue of where he’s from, is not picking up the traditional support among registered Democrats that a Republican normally would in this circumstance,” he said.

According to polling from a number of sources, Congressman David McKinley (R-W.Va.) is expected to win reelection in the 1st Congressional District against Glen Gainer, West Virginia’s longtime auditor.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 4. Early voting continues in each of West Virginia’s 55 counties through Saturday.

Coverage of MetroNews Decision 2014 begins on the MetroNews Radio Network and online at wvmetronews.com at 7:06 p.m. next Tuesday.





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