Mid-South Keeps Moving Right

GOP eyes potential for picking up U.S. House seats in Mid-South (CA/Sullivan)
A Republican operative reviewing a map of open seats and conservative districts now held by Democrats calls the Mid-South "ground zero" for GOP pickups in the House of Representatives this fall. To academics surveying the same scene, the analysis seems to hold up. Long-held Democratic seats may fall this year to a historic trend that has steamrollered the South for Republicans since Richard Nixon unwrapped his "Southern Strategy." Outside of Memphis -- whose 9th District seat will likely be held by a solid blue Democrat whether former Mayor Willie W. Herenton or incumbent Steve Cohen wins the August primary -- the capital of the Mid-South looks to some experts to be surrounded by a wave of blue districts turning Republican red. Rhodes College professor Marcus Pohlmann said the old Yellow Dog or Blue Dog seats Republicans are targeting represent "the last gasp of the old Roosevelt Coalition." "Some of those seats are holdovers from an old era and were probably due to go red anyway, eventually," Pohlman said.