Final count in Senate is 55 Dems, 45 Repubs (net gain of 2 for dems?)

Minn Post ^ | 11/7/12 | Eric Black

[Evil Slayer]

My post of this morning was published with a couple of Senate races not finally decided. But the Republican candidates (Rep. Denny Rehberg in Montana and Rep. Rick Berg of North Dakota) have now conceded to the victorious Dems. (incumbent Sen. Jon Tester in Montana and Sen.-elect Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota).

This nets out at a two-seat pickup for the Dems and a 55-45 majority heading into 2013 (assuming that, as expected, the Senate's two independents, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Sen.-elect Angus King of Maine will caucus with the Dems). The net gain is especially impressive since the Dems had to defend 23 of the 33 seats that were up in 2012.

If you can stand to look ahead to 2014, it turns out that once again, the Dems will have to defend a much larger portion of the seats that will be on the ballot. Assuming that no deaths, resignations, special elections or party switches occur, 20 of the 33 Senate seats that will be up in 2014 are now held by Dems. And, if you look at the map of where those seats are located, it appears that there are more Dems in generally red states than vice versa. Minnesota will also have a Senate race and freshman incumbent Al Franken is likely to face a tougher challenger than Kurt Bills. It will be some consolition to the Dem planners that they will head into that cycle with a five seat margin in the Senate and, since the vice presidency (with its potential as a tie-breaking vote in case of 50-50 ties in the Senate) will remain in Dem hands through 2016, the Dems would have to make a net gain of six seats to gain control that year.

If you are wondering how it can

[Impy]

The Senate map looks great for us.

The only Republican up in democrat state is Collins and she is popular.

We cannot afford any slip ups though, we need 6 for a bare majority.

Boy it would have been nice to have won a couple more races the past 2 elections.

[PhilCollins]

I think that Sen. Franken might lose. He won with about 42% of the vote. The Republican, Norm Coleman, got about 41.5%, and most of the rest was won by the MN Indepdendence Party candidate. If all anti-Franken candidates cooperate, to defeat Franken, he’ll probably lose.

Sen. Lautenberg will have his 90th birthday in Jan. 2014. I hope that Gov. Christie will run for that seat. I hope that Gov. Roemer will run against Sen. Landrieu.

I live in Illinois, and, two days ago, I became the campaign manager of a Chad Koppie, a conservative Republican who hopes to replace Sen. Durbin. Chad has been a school board member, township trustee, and a member of a county school board. In 1998, he was the only conservative who ran for governor, in our GOP primary. Chad got almost 20% of the vote, although he didn’t spend much money. He’s pro-tax cuts, pro-spending cuts, pro-life, and pro-gun rights.

[Homer1]

if everybody is telling you they are not voting for Goode, then he doesn’t look like a viable candidate to win.