Jonathan Bernstein, Columnist

How Democrats Can Avoid Wiping Out in 2018

Riding the electoral wave is not as easy as it looks.

January 9, 2018 at 5:13 PM UTC

Jonathan Bernstein is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering politics. A former professor of political science at the University of Texas at San Antonio, he wrote A Plain Blog About Politics.

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Things are certainly going the Democrats' way so far in the 2018 elections. They seem poised to win a majority in the U.S. House and possibly even the Senate, and to win back dozens and dozens of other offices they lost in 2010 and 2014. But there's still plenty of time for the party to sabotage itself.

The sheer number of people seeking to run creates a two-stage trap for Democrats. If they nominate the wrong candidates, they could lose races they should've won. If they elect the wrong candidates, it will be harder to capitalize on any electoral gains by making governing harder.