Five Things You Need to Read Today

Here's your weekly update, for subscribers only, drawing your attention to five stories that are worth catching. Today, the main theme is dissonance between principles and reality.

1. The Blue Dog Wave

A weird special election held this week in Pennsylvania--it's for a congressional district that is going to disappear this November due to redistricting--may be an interesting bellwether. It looks like the district just elected a Democrat despite having gone for Donald Trump by 20 points in 2016. If this is part of a wider trend, Republicans are doomed in the mid-term elections.

David Marcus points out one way in which this is not part of a wider trend.

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