LAST 24 HOURS IN A NUTSHELL:
Top House hashtags:
Top Senate hashtags:
Interesting climbers
- #TeamUnderwood (15th place House): With an unusual endorsement by the Chicago Sun Times, Illinois 14 Democrat Lauren Underwood is gaining momentum against GOP incumbent Randy Hultgren.
- #kavanaugh (10th place Senate), #JusticeKavanaugh (11th place Senate): The justice who has become a symbol. The strongest post here is from a reporter in #TXSen, noting that @BetoORourke says he would have opposed Kavanaugh, while @tedcruz is getting heckled for his vote. But the tag is being used all over the country, on both sides. #JusticeKavanaugh, by contrast, is primarily used in specific anti-Democrat Tweets, particularly in Michigan.
- #ndpol (16th place Senate): Largely devoted either to praise or condemnation of Democrat Heidi Heitkamp, for her vote against confirming Kavanaugh. Note: Yesterday, we looked at the initial surge of Twitter activity criticizing Heitkamp for her vote, and found that it (almost certainly) came largely from accounts outside the state.
GENERAL TRENDS:
On the House side, the #gotv tag is today driven by Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar in California 50, whose race against the under-indictment GOP incumbent Duncan Hunter is now extraordinarily tight. Strong calls also from Democratic activists and candidates #VA02, #PA01 and #MSSen, a clear sign that GOTV efforts are underway.
The #florida tag leans GOP, with one particular high-activity poster repeatedly warning Republican voters that Democrat candidates will try to impeach Donald Trump. #redwave is dominated by the same account, with another batch coming from #TXSen.
On the Senate side, Ted Cruz‘s hashtags continue to rule the roost. As a reminder to new readers, we examined the Cruz Twitter juggernaut several weeks ago, and found it to be disproportionately driven by accounts with very strong “trollbot” ratings. #maga also leans heavily toward #TXSen, with strong representation also in Montana and Michigan.