It is hard to keep up these days. The flow of news often seems overwhelming.

Let’s focus today on an unusual congressional race before moving on to a few quick, supplementary observations.

Since its creation 54 years ago, Congressional District 5 has been represented by a grand total of five people – Bill Armstrong, Ken Kramer, Joel Hefley, Doug Lamborn, and now Jeff Crank. All have been Republicans and this territory has long been regarded as a GOP bastion.

The question posed here is whether that streak is in any jeopardy. In a year trending hard in the blue direction, is there any chance of Democrats reversing history and pulling off the upset?

Crank, who first sought the seat way back in 2006 before winning it two years ago upon Lamborn’s retirement, will vigorously defend it. Running against him will be Democrat Jessica Killin, who has designs on being something more than this year’s sacrificial donkey.

Killin graduated from high school in the Pikes Peak area before building a life elsewhere, serving in the U.S. Army, and later pursuing a career in business and, later, in D.C. politics. That time culminated in the White House orbit where she served as chief of staff to Doug Emhoff, then the nation’s Second Gentleman as the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris.

In this traditionally non-competitive district, Killin will be the first Democrat to bring a serious base of national funding to the campaign. It pays to have contacts.

Crank has mostly kept his head down over the past two years. Unlike his House colleague, Jeff Hurd from Grand Junction, Crank has avoided any dissension from the Trump administration. He has been a get-along-to-go-along player despite having defeated the Trump-endorsed candidate in a bitter Republican primary two years ago.

Many, including this pundit, may have wished for Crank to exhibit more backbone, spunk and independence. Instead, he chose the cautious route, which has succeeded in now uniting all factions of the GOP behind him.

The baseline numbers indicate that the seat should be safe for Crank. It is a plus-five Republican district, meaning that a generic Republican should beat a generic Democrat by roughly five points. In 2024, Trump defeated Harris in this district by a full ten points.

The district encompasses all of El Paso County, essentially, except for a couple of small slivers. While Colorado Springs is going through something of a political transformation, that is far less the case in the northern, eastern and southern suburbs.

Yet, and you knew there was a “yet” coming, Trump’s approval ratings are deeply underwater across the district. That was true even before he made a hash of the Iran adventure. In multiple elections across the country, Democrats are outperforming expectations by well over five points and often by double digits.

Killin will try to nationalize the race and make it a referendum on a discredited president. On the other hand, Crank will use his incumbency and his ample bankroll to tie Killin to the also unpopular Kamala Harris and paint her as an outsider, even a carpetbagger, who only recently moved to the district and plopped herself down in a high-priced home in a wealthy neighborhood.

A Democratic win here remains a long shot. But it is not the impossibility that many Republicans regard it as. Even a gentle breeze will take out Rep. Gabe Evans in District 8. Defeating Crank will require a full-on political windstorm. It is still only April, and the election remains a half-year away, but there are many signs that such a storm may be brewing.

Democrats need a net gain of only three seats to capture control of the U.S. House. Surely, Jessica Killin will not be that tipping point. However, if that cyclone forms and Democrats pick off 30 or more seats, it is not impossible that this could be among them.

And now three quick takes to finish up:

First, while their election will be decided by the time this column runs, what a sad sight to see an American administration pull out all stops, including a last-minute visit by Vice President Vance, to rescue a Hungarian prime minister closely aligned with Putin and long displaying his own autocratic instincts. Such is what this nationalistic, nativist, iron-handed period has shamefully wrought.

Second, back to Colorado Springs, a tip of the cap to Mayor Yemi Mobolade and the rival he defeated in 2023, former Secretary of State Wayne Williams, who will now serve as the mayor’s chief of staff. What an admirable show of civility, laying aside grievances and combining skill sets for the public benefit. Politics need not be constantly a blood sport.

And finally, can obsessively online partisans on both political extremes dial back the outrage over the photo of Gov. Jared Polis and Rep. Lauren Boebert briefly sitting together at the Rockies home opener? Some haters cannot let the battle go on for even a minute. It was a chilly afternoon game in which the dreadful home team fell behind by seven runs before even coming to bat. Fans suffer enough. Let these two take a selfie together to ease the pain.

Eric Sondermann is a Colorado-based independent political commentator. He writes regularly for Colorado Politics and The Gazette. Reach him at EWS@EricSondermann.com; follow him at @EricSondermann