Hey, What's News listeners. It's Sunday, April 19th. I'm Luke Vargas for the Wall Street Journal, and this is What's News Sunday, the show where we tackle the big questions about the biggest stories in the news.

Less than 200 days out from the midterms, possible fractures are emerging within both major

parties. As President Trump's criticisms of the Pope this week, risk alienating Catholic voters,

and Representative Eric Swalwell's fall from grace forces a reckoning among the high-profile

Democrats who endorsed his run for California governor.

With voters in some key states now just weeks away from selecting who'll represent them in November,

we'll look at how Democrats and Republicans are positioning themselves to emerge victorious in a wide-open battle for control of Congress.

Let's get right to it.

Without further ado, I'd like to bring a pair of journal politics reporters into the mix today. Eliza Collins is with us from Arizona. And on the line

from the Chicago area is John McCormick. John, let me start with you. Before we talk about

specific party strategy or any specific names, you've covered every

big U.S. election going back to 2000. Midterms, as most people know, don't generally favor the party

that's in the White House. Is that likely to be the case again here this year? And what's the

overall narrative of this election 200 days out or so? Well, first a couple

stipulations. And it's going to sound like I'm talking out of both sides of my mouth. And I am.

First, it's still about six and a half months until the general election. And that's a long time

in American politics. At the same time, it's only about five months until early voting starts

in some states. And here's a good

statistic to drop at your next cocktail party when the midterms come up. Since World War II,

the party holding the White House has gained U.S. House seats in just two elections, 1998 and 2002.

So just the historical environment is challenging for Republicans. Add in a war, rising gas prices, a president prone to controversy, Democrats showing enthusiasm for voting and strength in some local and state contests that have already been held this year. The general consensus among nonpartisan forecasters is that Democrats are likely to win the House

and control of the Senate, which looked very unlikely a year ago, is increasingly considered to be in play.

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