Democrats' Strategy of Backing Independents Faces Reckoning

Democrats' strategy of supporting independents in traditionally conservative states, rather than running their own candidate, faces a reckoning in this year's midterms, as difficult headwinds for Republicans will test the appetite for these independents in states President Donald Trump carried by large margins.

Over the years, Democrats have declined to run a candidate in certain Senate races when they believed an independent could be able to make the race...