Democrats fear chances of winning Senate may be slipping away

Democrats’ chances of taking back control of the Senate have suffered with recent developments in Maine and Michigan, complicating their chances of winning the two critical battlegrounds.

The implosion of Graham Platner’s campaign in Maine has left Democrats scrambling for an opponent to challenge GOP incumbent Sen. Susan Collins less than four months out from Election Day.

While some Democratic strategists think the party is better off with Platner out of the race, the spectacular collapse of his campaign and the lack of consensus within the party over who should take his place creates unnecessary political headwinds for the party.

Some experts say Democrats are less likely to win back the majority because of the chaos in Maine.

“In general, it’s not good news for the Democrats. Not good news that so many prominent Democrats endorsed the dropout and not such good news — probably — about how they’re going to respond to news in the next few days. It’s just bad news for the party,” said Steven S. Smith, a professor of political science at Arizona State University who follows the Senate.

Smith said Democrats were “flirting with a 50-50 chance of regaining the Senate” and now probably have less than a 50-50 chance going forward.

Even so, Smith said the good news for Democrats is that “it’s relatively early, it is the middle of the summer, not that many people are paying attention to politics.”

“The major consideration is who’s the next nominee and if there’s lots of good public relations that comes from that, the Democrats can turn this around,” he said.

Democrats would need a net pickup of four Senate seats in November to recapture the Senate majority.

Many political handicappers think Democrats have a better chance of winning control of the House, but a spokesperson for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) argued that Democrats still have an excellent chance to defeat Collins with another candidate.  

“Susan Collins has never been more vulnerable, and Mainers are eager to vote her out after she’s voted with Trump 96 percent of the time, voted to confirm the justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, and spent nearly 30 years in Washington........

© The Hill