LAST 24 HOURS IN A NUTSHELL:
Top House hashtags:
Top Senate hashtags:
Interesting climbers:
#maskupmt: This time around, a lament that current #MTSen Senator Steve Daines is holding a “law enforcement appreciation BBQ” in Bozeman, MT, thus exposing police to COVID-19.
(Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser/L. Calçada & NASA/JPL/Caltech)
#americandream: Here, purely retweets of an elderly tweet carrying the video biography of former NFL player, Fox News talking head and GOP #UT-04 candidate Burgess Owens.
#nosafeseats: A general Democratic hashtag highlighting races that aren’t in the spotlight. Here driven particularly by calls to support Nevada candidates following Trump’s Covid party near Las Vegas.
GENERAL TRENDS:
It’s still early days for the lower-ticket races, with flashes of passion already evident, but with most of the attention focused on Trump, COVID, historically destructive wildfires, unemployment, and the rest of the 2020 fun. Also they think there might be life on Venus, which can only go well for us.
But the key #MESen district is already buzzing, with debates between Senator Susan Collins and challenger Sara Gideon earlier in the week, and both sides slinging dirt as rapidly as they can – money, corruption, sex scandals, you name it, it’s only mid-September. There might not be enough popcorn to get through November on this one.
“Political corruption,” or potentially illegal contributions from corporations, is also an issue in #IASen, where Theresa Greenfield is making a strong but still long-shot bid to unseat GOP Sen. Joni Ernst. And finally, as in 2018, the #PA-17 race is already playing out heavily online, with GOP candidate Sean Parnell running a very strong early Twitter game, mobilizing support and contributions against one-term Democratic incumbent Conor Lamb.