Making Daily Headlines · Page 8
Senate Map Turns a Few Local Races Into a National Audition
· New York time
A contest between a Paralympian and a former television news anchor is among the US Senate races attracting attention as voters decide which party will control the chamber. A BBC guide highlights a handful of contests with the potential to determine the balance of the upper chamber. The candidates' backgrounds make for an eye-catching matchup, but the significance of the race extends beyond the biographies on campaign material. Each Senate seat adds to the arithmetic that determines who sets the chamber's agenda and how much influence each party has. The Senate's work includes considering legislation and confirming federal nominees, so a result in one state can affect national policy. That helps explain why a small number of competitive contests can receive attention far outside their borders. Voters still choose individual candidates, even as national observers assemble the results into a map of party control. Campaigns must therefore make two pitches at once: a local case for a candidate and a national case for a majority. The candidates' different careers provide plenty of material for introductions, but neither a broadcast studio nor an athletic résumé supplies a ready-made answer to every question a senator will face. Once the advertisements end, the arithmetic takes over. The chamber will not award extra seats for an interesting biography, however useful the biography may have been at getting everyone's attention.
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