Simone Pathé

Minnesota is ground zero for the 2018 midterms. With four competitive House races, two Senate elections and a gubernatorial contest, there’s been no shortage of campaigning across the Gopher State. 

Roll Call is in the state all week, capturing the candidates and talking to voters, so keep following along for more coverage.

Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill got personal in a recent ad, talking about something that she’s never addressed in a political spot before: cancer — specifically, her own diagnosis.

“Two years ago, I beat breast cancer,” the two-term Democrat says to camera. “Like thousands of other women in Missouri, I don’t talk about it much.”

The gun violence prevention group founded by former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is launching its second TV ad against Rep. Barbara Comstock, specifically going after the Virginia Republican’s ‘A’ rating from the National Rifle Association. 

The spot, debuting Wednesday and obtained first by Roll Call, opens with footage of a parent playing with a small child.

A Republican super PAC tied to House leadership is launching its fourth ad against Maine Democrat Jared Golden on Friday.

The fight to hold on to the 2nd District, where GOP Rep. Bruce Poliquin is running for a third term, is a top priority for Republicans. Congressional Leadership Fund has now reserved $3.1 million for the seat, among the most it’s reserved in competitive districts around the country. 

Welcome to At the Races! You can keep track of House and Senate races with this weekly newsletter by subscribing here. We want to hear what you think. Email us at attheraces@cqrollcall.com with your questions, tips or candidate sightings. — Simone Pathé, Bridget Bowman and Stephanie Akin

Democrat Kristen Carlson narrowly led Republican Ross Spano, well within the margin of error, in a poll of Florida’s open 15th District commissioned by her campaign. 

Carlson led Spano 48 percent to 47 percent, with 5 percent of likely voters undecided.

In his quest to defeat a five-term Republican congressman, New Jersey Democrat Tom Malinowski is turning to the late Sen. John McCain. 

Malinowski’s latest ad, obtained first by Roll Call, opens with the Arizona Republican senator introducing him to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2013, praising his work to end torture when he worked at Human Rights Watch. 

Chris Pappas, a member of New Hampshire’s executive council, has won the Democratic nomination for the state’s swing 1st District, defeating a better-funded candidate who only recently moved to there.

He starts the general election to succeed retiring Democratic Rep. Carol Shea-Porter as the slight favorite against Republican former police chief Eddie Edwards. In a contest of firsts, Pappas would be the first openly gay representative from the Granite State, while Edwards would be the state’s first African-American member of Congress.

For the first time in over a decade, the race for New Hampshire’s 1st District will feature two fresh faces. 

Tuesday’s primaries in the Granite State — the last competitive primaries of 2018 — will determine those new candidates. And both the Democratic and Republican contests may offer some final insight into what each party has been searching for in its nominees this year.

Democrat Nancy Soderberg and Republican Michael Waltz were essentially tied in a poll commissioned by the Democrat’s campaign in an open Florida district that President Donald Trump carried by double digits.

Waltz led Soderberg 47 percent to 46 percent in the 6th District poll, shared first with Roll Call. Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research surveyed 400 likely voters from Sept. 4-6, with 31 percent reached by cell phone. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.

Despite a quarter of the women in the House Republican Conference not running for re-election, the head of the House GOP’s campaign arm said he is “very confident” the party can increase its female members in the chamber next year. 

But looking at the number of female GOP lawmakers leaving the House and how few Republican women won nominations in open seats this year, just breaking even might be hard for House Republicans. 

Ohio Rep. Steve Stivers, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, believes President Donald Trump can be useful in any district to help Republicans hold the House majority. 

“I am convinced we know how to use the president in any district in America,” Stivers said a Christian Science Monitor breakfast Friday morning. 

Delaware Sen. Thomas R. Carper comfortably won his Democratic primary Tuesday night, fending off a challenge from his left that had drawn some national attention in recent days. 

With 72 percent of precincts reporting, Carper led Air Force veteran and community activist Kerri Evelyn Harris 64 percent to 36 percent when The Associated Press called the race. 

Welcome to At the Races! You can keep track of House and Senate races with this weekly newsletter by subscribing here. We want to hear what you think. Email us at attheraces@cqrollcall.com with your questions, tips or candidate sightings. — Simone Pathé, Bridget Bowman and Stephanie Akin

Democrats continue to dominate the latest list of the most vulnerable Senate incumbents two months out from Election Day, with North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp moving into the top spot.

Heitkamp displaces Nevada Sen. Dean Heller, who nevertheless remains the most vulnerable incumbent on the Republican side and the only GOP senator running in a state Hillary Clinton won in 2016.

With Election Day two months away, all 10 of the most vulnerable House members are Republicans, with one new addition.

Rep. Carlos Curbelo of Florida has been replaced on the list by Kansas Rep. Kevin Yoder, who even some Republicans acknowledge is in a more tenuous position given his district, voting record and Democratic challenger.

CROW AGENCY, Mont. — The young woman quickly set down the decorations she was mounting on her parade float.

“That’s Tester?” she exclaimed.

Welcome to At the Races! You can keep track of House and Senate races with this weekly newsletter by subscribing here. We want to hear what you think. Email us at attheraces@cqrollcall.com with your questions, tips or candidate sightings. — Simone Pathé, Bridget Bowman and Stephanie Akin