Appearing as a guest on Tuesday's MTP Daily on MSNBC, Washington Post editorial page deputy editor Ruth Marcus repeated the misleading claim that, because former Republican Rep. Tom Price has a history of winning landslide victories, the 6th Congressional District of Georgia should still be a solidly Republican seat.
The liberal Post columnist admitted President Donald Trump barely won the district as she began her prediction: "I think if Republicans can't keep this seat, they're really in trouble in the Trump years, and here's why: Yes, Trump won it by a point, but Tom Price won it by multiple, you know, double digits repeatedly."
But she then added:
So the fact that this is a competitive seat tells you about the trouble that the Republican party is in right now in some congressional districts in the age of Trump. This should not be a -- this would not be a competitive seat were it not for Donald Trump. And to me that's what this race is about.
A glaring omission from her analysis of Price's recent wins in the district is that his last opponent who appeared on the ballot in 2016 -- Rodney Stooksbury -- seemed to be a hoax candidate as he did not raise money or campaign, and was unreachable when local media tried to interview him.
If a name on the ballot in the Democratic slot can get almost 40 percent without even making any effort, surely it's not surprising if an actual candidate manages to score about 10 points better and run a close race.
Otherwise, it is not atypical for an incumbent to win reelection by landslide margins while a seat may then be more competitive when it comes open as it attracts stronger candidates and campaign spending on both sides.
