Explain these things to me like I'm 5

Demographics

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House seats are local (and gerrymandered AF)

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Thread

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How can R do so well in Senate and Governor races and poorly in the House?

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Because lib states like CA, NY, and MA only get two Senators? Urban demographics don't hold steady state wide?

House and Senate races are about very different things.
Senate races are typically about national level politics. Its the senator's job to represent the entire state's interest.
House races are about candidates. Thats why democrats did so well this time around - the ran moderate ex military candidates and appealed to the Burbs.

The exception to this is senate races in small states (WV, MT, etc) because of the small population these races are more like house races and are candidate driven not issue driven.

So who how and when do they re-draw the lines?

Tip O'Neil said it years ago, "All politics is local."

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Because lib states like CA, NY, and MA only get two Senators? Urban demographics don't hold steady state wide?

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like 5

Cities are less conservative, more open to change.
Farmers and ranchers and retired people are reactionary, more set in their ways

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Demographics

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and the feels

the democrats redistricted Pennsylvania to their advantage as well as, we had a stale lame duck Speaker of the House Paul Ryan.

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How does one party do so well in some races and not so well in others in the same state? How can R do so well in Senate and Governor races and poorly in the House?

I see a lot of people say it's because Rs didn't repeal Obamacare that they lost the House. If that's true, Obamacare is a democratic initiative so if people want it repealed why would they vote in the party that created the mess to begin with?

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Demographics and (to a lesser degree) lack of appeal by a given candidate.