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Rep. John Barrow speaks at First African Baptist Church in Dublin, Ga. Barrow needs African-Americans to turn out on Election Day, but they're not enough to put him over the top. Sarah McCammon/NPR hide caption

Rep. John Barrow speaks at First African Baptist Church in Dublin, Ga. Barrow needs African-Americans to turn out on Election Day, but they're not enough to put him over the top.

For Republicans, Democrats in red states seem ripe for the picking in midterm election years, when the GOP usually has an advantage in voter turnout. One of their targets this year is Rep. John Barrow of Georgia, who faces one of the tightest races in the nation.

Barrow, often described as the "last white Democrat in Congress from the Deep South," is trying to hold onto his seat.

At First African Baptist Church in Dublin, Ga., a bronze plaque beside the front door reminds visitors that this is where a 14-year-old Martin Luther King Jr. gave his first public speech.

Pastor Keith Anderson stands behind the pulpit and welcomes Barrow to the service, while making a dig at Washington gridlock.

"I'm glad, Congressman Barrow, that I don't have to sit in the Senate or in the Congress and the only way my business gets done is if I get the majority to support [it]," Anderson says.

Even if Congress seems ineffective, Anderson assures his congregation, there is power in prayer to get things done.

Barrow tells the audience of about 60 people that even in Washington, he gets things done; he ticks off efforts to bring jobs to Georgia by promoting nuclear energy and expanding the Port of Savannah.

Barrow is comfortable here, among traditionally Democratic African-American voters. He describes himself as a Democrat in the tradition of his father, a judge known for helping to keep public schools open after desegregation. Barrow needs African-Americans to turn out on Election Day they make up more than a third of his district. But they're not enough to put him over the top.

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Courting Republicans, Georgia Democrat Tries To Keep His Seat

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TIME Politics 2014 Election Democrat vs. Democrat Down To Wire in Silicon Valley House Race President Barack Obama is greeted by Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif., as the president arrives in Los Altos Hills, Calif., where he will attend a fundraising event Wednesday, July 23, 2014, during his three-day West Coast trip to Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. AP California hopes the non-partisan, open system will lead to a more functional Congress

Dont look now, but a moderate might get elected to Congress next month from California.

In Californias 17th congressional district, which encompasses much of Silicon Valley, two Democrats are on the ballot on Nov. 4. One is seven-term incumbent Rep. Mike Honda, 73, and the other 38-year-old former Obama Administration official Ro Khanna, who is trying to unseat his fellow Democrat.

Why wasnt this battle decided in Californias June 3 primary? Honda and Khanna both won that primary: they both gained enough votes to advance to the general election and under Californias new rulesthis is the second cycle the system has been in placeit doesnt matter that they are both Democrats. In fact, seven out of Californias 53 congressional districts have two candidates from the same party competing in the General Election.

More than 30 years ago, California led the country in closing its primaries. But that, coupled with redistricting that gerrymandered safe seats, led to increasingly partisan politicians more afraid of a primary challenge than of losing to the other party. In other words: politicians more likely to blow up the government than make deals across the aisle.

So in 2010, Californians voted to take the parties out of redistricting and opened up its primary process in the hopes of electing people who didnt think compromise is a dirty word, or at least seek to work with their opponents instead of vanquishing them.

Whether this political experiment has worked remains to be seen. But if any place in the country understands disruption and reinvention, its Silicon Valley. And the Honda/Khanna race, while troubling fratricide to most of the party, carries undertones of Californias intent: moderation.

Khanna spent a whopping $3 million to come in a distant second in the primary, which Honda won by 20 points. Honda has the endorsement of much of the establishment, including President Obama, House minority leader Nancy Pelosi and the California Democratic Party. Khanna enjoys the backing of some deep-pocketed Silicon Valley tycoons, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and a campaign team drawn from Obamas presidential bids.

Khanna burned through another $1 million post primary and by the end of September had just $218,000 cash on hand compared to Hondas $965,000. We were always the underdog going into this thing, Khanna tells TIME. But we will have enough money to compete on Election Day. Weve built a strong campaign on a lot of retail politics.

Khanna has been attacking Honda as ineffectual and unwilling the reach across the aisle to get things done. During the debate Khanna mocked Hondas bipartisanship. Honda has been attacking Khanna as a Republican in Democratic clothing. He sent out a mailer labeling me a liberal, Honda tells TIME. I am a Democrat. He is? Honda has also been promoting his seniority and his ability to deliver for the district, including helping to secure a BART train extension to the area. And, yes, he has touted his bipartisan credentials working with Republicans on legislation and initiatives.

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Democrat vs. Democrat Down To Wire in Silicon Valley House Race

Vice President Joe Biden urged Iron Range Democrats on Thursday to get out the vote for U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan, saying Republicans don't understand the needs of the middle class.

"Get out the vote. We cannot afford to lose this race. It's important," Biden implored the crowd at Hibbing Community College, estimated by the Nolan campaign at over 600.

Nolan, the incumbent, is locked in a tight race with GOP candidate Stewart Mills in Minnesota's 8th Congressional District, which was long a traditional Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party stronghold but has become a swing district as redistricting has added more conservative territory near the Twin Cities. The race is one of the country's top five in terms of outside spending.

"This election really is going to be decided at the end of the day about who shows up to vote," Nolan said in his own speech to an audience that included many wearing jackets and hats bearing names of the region's mining and other unions.

Biden spoke mostly about the struggles of the middle class and drew parallels between the lives of the heavily blue-collar audience and growing up near Pennsylvania's mining country. He said the national economy is doing well now in "a macroeconomic sense," saying the stock market and employment rate are up and noting that Minnesota's jobless rate is below the national average.

"But guess what? Ordinary people aren't feeling it," he said. "Ordinary people aren't seeing it."

Biden said little about Mills, a wealthy businessman whose family started the Mills Fleet Farm chain of stores, but criticized Republicans at length as being out of touch. He said he doesn't question the motives of "the tea party guys and Rick's opponents."

"They don't understand where we grew up. They don't understand that the reason we have a middle class in America is because of unions," he said to cheers.

Nolan pointed out that tens of thousands of Democrats in the district stayed home in the 2010 midterm election, when Republican Chip Cravaack ousted longtime Democratic Rep. Jim Oberstar. Nolan retook the seat in 2012, buoyed by the high turnout of a presidential election year and ballot issues that drew Minnesota Democrats.

"Make sure that we've identified those people who didn't show up in 2010," Nolan said. "And all we have to do is get them out to vote, and we will win this election."

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Biden Stumps in North Minnesota for Democrat Nolan