Sometimes watching the two major parties compete in this year’s midterm elections brings to mind a quote from the legendary baseball manager Casey Stengel, which journalist Jimmy Breslin used to title his 1963 book: “Can’t anybody here play this game?”

Democrats have a historic opportunity to seize control of both houses of Congress for the remainder of President Donald Trump’s term ahead of the 2028 race for the White House. If the 2030 Census goes as expected, they might not get many more chances like this, with blue states losing population and congressional seats.

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Having controlled the House for 40 years at the beginning of 1995, Democrats took a dozen years to win their majority back after losing it in then-President Bill Clinton’s first midterm election. If all goes according to plan, given recent electoral history and the current national political environment, they will regain the majority they lost under former President Joe Biden after just four years.

Republicans have a favorable map with arguably the fewest competitive House seats in modern history. They appear to have strengthened their hand through mid-decade redistricting, though the jury is still out on that, and a Supreme Court ruling curtailing the creation of automatically Democratic majority-minority congressional districts under the Voting Rights Act. The GOP is also sitting on a massive war chest ready to be spent at an opportune time, while some (though by no means all) of the Democrats’ campaign entities are strapped for cash.

The Republican House majority is small, which probably limits its ability to defy history, even with all the aforementioned assets. But at 53-47, their Senate majority is more robust, and the map there is also favorable, at least on paper. To flip the chamber, Democrats will need a net gain of four seats. Their path to doing so runs through multiple states Trump carried in 2024, some of them by double digits. The main exception to this rule is Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), who substantially outran her poll numbers six years ago to beat a heavily favored Democratic challenger in her mostly blue state.

And yet there is a case to be made that both parties are doing everything they can to blow their advantages. It starts with candidate selection. Democrats have had more success shoving aside their problematic incumbents and challengers than Republicans have.

Former Rep. Eric Swalwell, who was running for governor of California when sexual misconduct allegations blew up in the media, withdrew from the race. Former Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner withdrew under similar circumstances, as accusations about his behavior toward former girlfriends grew increasingly serious with each news story. Yet Rep. Max Miller (R-OH), who stands accused of abusing his ex-wife — the daughter of Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) — and his two-year-old daughter, remains a........

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