Rep. Jim Walsh (R-NY) is out, challenger Dan Maffei is likely in, and as Matt Yglesias notes, the NY-25 is not only a district we can win, it's a district we can hold with a progressive Democratic.
Another moderate Republican retirement. The GOP is on the verge of being reduced to a rump party with a hyper-conservative base that can only win in a quarter of the country. And though this is really just part of the overall realignment that's putting Democrats in control of the Northeast, we're the party that's expanding elsewhere -- making inroads in the south (Virginia, Kentucky) and mountain west (Colorado, Montana).
I agree the current election cycle looks good for Democrats but let's not get too cocky here. Remember the "permanent Republican majority" of three years ago?
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