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Seth McLaughlin

Seth McLaughlin, a reporter on the Politics Desk, can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @SethMcLaughlin1

Articles by Seth McLaughlin

In this May 20, 2018, photo, Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams participates in a debate against Stacey Evans in Atlanta. In Georgia, black women will likely factor into one of the country's marquee political contests. The Democratic race for governor features two women, and candidate Abrams is running to become the first black woman ever elected governor in America. (AP Photo/John Amis)

Stacey Abrams wins Democratic Georgia gubernatorial nomination

Stacey Abrams easily won the Democratic gubernatorial nomination Tuesday in Georgia, delivering a victory for liberals both inside and outside of the state and setting the stage for her to test drive a strategy that she hopes will change the way Democrats run in the Deep South. Published May 22, 2018

Kentucky Democrat McGrath will face Republican Rep. Barr

Democrat Amy McGrath on Tuesday won her party's nomination in the 6th Congressional District in Kentucky -- putting the former Marine fighter pilot and first-time candidate on a crash course with Republican Rep. Andy Barr in the midterm election. Published May 22, 2018

Lizzie Pannill Fletcher, a Democrat running for the 7th Congressional District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, and her husband, Scott Fletcher, walk out of the polling place at St. Anne's Catholic Church after voting in the primary election on Tuesday, March 6, 2018, in Houston. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Texas Democrats divided on Obamacare

Houston-area voters will have the chance Tuesday to weigh in on whether the Democratic Party should go all-in for Medicare-for-all when they cast ballots in a primary runoff race between congressional candidates Lizzie Pannill Fletcher and Laura Moser. Published May 20, 2018

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey won the Republican Party's Senate primary against two other candidates. He will face off against Sen. Joe Manchin III. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Republicans confident in candidates ahead of 2018 midterm vote

Republicans say last week's primaries delivered the kind of candidates their party needs to expand its majority in the Senate, though Democrats say they also did what they needed to do to advance toward their goal of netting the two dozen House seats that would flip control of the lower chamber. Published May 13, 2018

"Given the CIA's refusal to make your record public, I am very limited in what I can say, and I think you know I like you personally very much. This is probably the most difficult hearing in my more than two decades I have ever sat in," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, California Democrat, (right), to nominee Gina Haspel. questions Gina Haspel, President Donald Trump's pick to lead the Central Intelligence Agency, as she testifies at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, May 9, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) (Associated Press)

Haspel grilled by Democrats in hearing

Democrats used Gina Haspel's nomination to lead the CIA to score points with the party's anti-Trump liberal base, as senators and Senate hopefuls competed with each other Wednesday to prove they were taking a tough stance against her. Published May 9, 2018

Republican Senate candidate Mike Braun thanks supporters after winning the republican primary in Whitestown, Ind., Tuesday, May 8, 2018. Braun faced Todd Rokita and Luke Messer in the Republican primary race. Braun advances to a November matchup with Democrat Joe Donnelly, who is considered one of the Senate's most vulnerable incumbents. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Mike Braun wins Republican Senate nomination in Indiana

Mike Braun emerged victorious in the GOP Senate primary in Indiana, triumphing over two members of Congress in a bitter contest that turned into a wrestling match over which of them was most committed to President Trump. Published May 8, 2018

Rep. Pat Tiberi, Ohio Republican, speaks before Vice President Mike Pence at DynaLab, Inc., in Reynoldsburg, Ohio, on April 1, 2017. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Fate of Republicans' hold on House could rest on critical primaries

Republicans, desperate to hold onto seats of retiring lawmakers, will learn Tuesday who their candidates will be in a handful of critical races across the country that will go a long way toward determining whether the GOP holds on to the House this November. Published May 7, 2018

Jones quietly fulfills campaign promises in Senate

When Doug Jones won his seat in last year's Senate special election in Alabama, fellow Sen. Joe Manchin embraced him as a member of the "radical middle" in Congress, predicting he'd cross party lines to get things done. Published May 3, 2018

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., tells reporters that the work of special counsel Robert Mueller must continue as President Donald Trump suggests firing him while investigating potential ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 campaign, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, April 12, 2018. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) ** FILE **

GOP welcomes Nancy Pelosi's desire to regain House gavel

Republicans are happy to hear that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi envisions sticking around after the 2018 election, signaling they believe that her hopes of winning back the speakership will help energize GOP voters in the fall. Published May 2, 2018

Senate candidates Todd Rokita, , from left, Luke Messer and Mike Braun speak with each other following the Indiana Republican Senate Primary Debate, Monday, April 30, 2018, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, Pool)

Insults fly in final Indiana GOP Senate debate

The attacks in the fourth debate of the Indiana GOP Senate race started in the candidates' opening statements and didn't stop until they left the stage. It was a fitting finale, given the rock-'em, sock-'em tenor of the campaign between Reps. Todd Rokita and Luke Messer and former state Rep. Mike Braun. Published April 30, 2018

FILE - In this Feb. 20, 2018 file photo, U.S. Senate candidate Luke Messer speaks during the Indiana Republican Senate Primary Debate in Indianapolis. As the bitter campaign between Messer, Mike Braun, and Todd Rokita slogs on some Republicans worry that whoever emerges from the May 8 contest could be so wounded that their chances of taking down one of most vulnerable Democrats are slipping away. (Michelle Pemberton /The Indianapolis Star via AP, File) **FILE**

Indiana Republican Senate candidates trading punches to very end

The GOP Senate race in Indiana started off ugly and is ending in similar fashion, with the candidates trading barbs -- in one case symbolic punches -- over everything from where they live to drunken rap sheets to their fidelity to President Trump. Published April 29, 2018