How the West Became a Presidential Battleground

Mark Barabak: “Over the last several months, I’ve traveled through a half-dozen states — along the Pacific Coast, across the Southwest, into the Rockies — to explore the reasons for the change, which has drastically refashioned the national race for the White House.”

“There are commonalities throughout the region. Among them the defection of Republicans … who consider the GOP too extreme, and the relocation of Democrats who imported their political affinities from places like California.”