The NYTimes has a number of interactive resources for the Midterms, including a FAQ, a map of competitive districts, and a page profiling the “new faces” of 2018. You might also look at Ballotpedia, a site that tracks not just competitive races but factional rivalries within each of the parties. Identify a race that’s of interest to you (whether based on geography, a candidates’ personal story, or something else) and do some basic research:

• Find the campaign website for one or both candidates, and consider how they presenting themselves and their opponents.
• Find at least one piece of news coverage of the race: how is the race being reported? Are the candidate(s) presented as compelling individuals or mere cyphers for their respective parties?

Report your findings as HW, providing links as needed.

Ethan posted a really interesting campaign commercial as HW on Wednesday. Let’s do an in-depth analysis in class on Friday.

The commercial is for MJ Hegar, a Democrat running for Congress in Texas’ 31st District against incumbent Republican John Carter. According to the NYTimes map we looked at last time, the district is “likely” to go Republican, but the election isn’t a foregone conclusion. And perhaps this commercial is one reason why:

For homework I want you to focus narrowly on a single aspect of the ad: its music, one of its many themes, the way it flows from one scene to the next, the candidate’s self-presentation, etc. Alternatively, do some research on the news coverage of the candidate and report back on a single trend in the way her candidacy is being reported: you might start by finding her page on ballotpedia.org and using its Google News search link.