Senate Democrats are facing an increasingly tough road to keeping their majority in the upper chamber as races in crucial swing states tighten with just two weeks until Election Day.

The path to 51 seats was always going to be a long shot for Democrats, who are facing a difficult Senate map featuring multiple incumbents in solidly GOP territory.

But now Democrats are also dealing with Republican candidates in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin quickly closing the gap. The nonpartisan election handicapper Cook Political Report this month shifted both races from “lean Democrat” to “toss-up.” Along with Michigan, the “blue wall” states are now all in the “toss-up” category.

This is heaping pressure on the party to hold the fort in the final stretch.

“This is never going to be easy," Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) told reporters Tuesday at the Capitol. “But I believe these races are essentially tied. … To me, it feels like it's 50-50 all the time.”

“This is an unpredictable world. I don't know what's going to happen," said Bennet, who previously served as chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Democrats have long acknowledged the problems of the map. Republicans need to win only two more seats to control the chamber, and Sen. Joe Manchin's (I-W.Va.) retirement certainly will put that state in the Republican column.

All four seats rated as “toss-ups” by Cook are held by Democrats. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) is fighting to keep his seat in a state that has trended solidly red in recent years, and Cook last month shifted Montana, where Democratic Sen. Jon Tester is fighting for a fourth term, to “lean Republican.”

Tightening polls in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, as well as for the open seat in Michigan, are exacerbating those problems.

According to Decision Desk HQ/The........

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