Opportunities to expand their majority are few and far between for House Republicans, which makes the perennial and prolapsed candidacy of Jim Hagedorn a problem. The Minnesota Republican won his primary and probably lost what would have been one of the House GOP's few pickup opportunities in 2018.

That’s because Hagedorn is possibly the worst Republican candidate in the country, considering his past and the current political environment.

On paper, Republicans should be able to win in Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District. Democratic Rep. Tim Walz left his seat there to run for governor, the GOP enjoys a +5 advantage normally, and President Trump carried it by 14 points. Because of these factors, the Cook Political Report rates the race as a toss-up. But because the terrible of candidacy of Hagedorn, they rate it as a “Democratic toss-up.”

And make no mistake, Hagedorn is terrible.

Hagedorn can’t brand himself as an outsider because his father served in Congress and he grew up on Capitol Hill before beginning his career there. Hagedorn can’t rely on any special campaign experience either. He ran twice, first in 2010 and then in 2014, and lost both times. Worst of all, Hagedorn is a creep.

While working at the Treasury Department, Hagedorn developed a blogging habit. Unfortunately for his political career, he didn’t realize that the Internet is forever.

Voters can review his blog where he called Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., “undeserving bimbos in tennis shoes.”

Voters can read his thoughts on former judicial nominee Harriet Miers who Hagedorn dismissed as part of an effort “to fill the bra of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.”

Voters can enjoy his writing on how “dead Indians” are somehow “ungrateful.”

An electorate that wasn’t scandalized by Trump might not take offense at a boorish Hagedorn. But that is a big bet. He doesn’t have anything like the celebrity, supposed business acumen, and mesmerizing chaos that made Trump such a fascinating candidate during the general election.

This November, Hagedorn will face Dan Feehan. That Democrat served in Iraq then worked in the Pentagon before moving home to Minnesota to raise a family. He is articulate, clean-cut, and inoffensive. In short, Feehan is Hagedorn’s polar opposite.

So, why should anyone care about this one little House race and this one relatively offensive candidate? It’s simple. Because Democrats need to flip 24 seats to take the majority and Republicans just nominated a nincompoop in one of the districts that they had a shot at winning.