'This Is Bad': Dems in Panic Mode As New Polls Show Senate Control Is Slipping From Their Grasp

Red State ^ | 10/04/2024 | Teri Christoph

[SeekAndFind]

New polling numbers out of the states of Ohio and Wisconsin are very good news for Mitch McConnell and very bad news for Chuck Schumer. Panic seems to be setting in for Democrats as they see their chances of retaining control of the Senate slip from their grasp.

In Ohio, Democrat incumbent Sherrod Brown is consistently polling behind his Republican rival, Bernie Moreno. RedState reported last week on polling from RMG Research that showed Moreno ahead of Brown by a 48 percent to 46 percent margin. New polling out from ActiVote confirms Moreno's lead, with the new data having Moreno sitting at 51.1 percent while Brown is at 48.9 percent. That's a pretty consistent 2 percent-plus lead for the Republican challenger with just under five weeks until election day.

There have been signs that Democrats were getting ready to call it quits on Sherrod Brown, most notably the lack of funds flowing into his campaign from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC). The DSCC seemed to be diverting funds from Ohio into the Senate race in Montana, where incumbent Jon Tester is facing stiff competition from Republican Tim Sheehy.

Seeing their chances of retaining Senate control dwindling, the DSCC decided to focus on the races in Texas and Florida, where Republican incumbents Ted Cruz and Rick Scott are up for reelection. This could well be a Hail Mary pass from Democrats, who are desperate to keep Chuck Schumer as majority leader.

The Dems haven't completely given up on Ohio, with plenty of outside money being spent in the state by PACs, but a recent fundraising appeal seems to confirm that the party is hitting the panic button:

“This is bad,” the Ohio Democratic Party said in a campaign fundraising email soon after the polls were released. “We can’t let Bernie Moreno gain any more ground — not if we want to keep the Senate blue.“

They may find it hard to keep the Senate blue if polling out of Wisconsin proves true. Democrat Tammy Baldwin is hoping to get a third Senate term, but recent internal polling shows she is losing significant ground to Republican Eric Hovde. 

Baldwin leads by just two points in internal Democratic polling, a source familiar with the campaign told Axios. That is much closer than what public polling has shown for months.

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'Alarm Bells': Dems Now Panicking About Senate Race in Wisconsin

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Keeping Baldwin's Senate seat wasn't supposed to be challenging for Democrats; unlike Sherrod Brown's race, the DSCC has put money into her campaign, to the tune of $7 million. Someone who sees an opening for Republicans in Wisconsin is Mitch McConnell, whose Senate Leadership Fund is pouncing on the opportunity by investing $17 million into Hovde's race. Mitch would love nothing better than to boot Chuck Schumer right back into the minority, a possibility that seems to be inching closer to reality. That would be almost as satisfying to watch as seeing Nancy Pelosi having to hand over the Speaker's gavel ... twice.

(Incidentally, the race to replace Mitch McConnell as majority/minority leader is on, with the options now down to the "three Johns": John Thune, John Cornyn and John Barrasso.)

It does look like Chuck Schumer's days as majority leader are coming to an end, and that's a good thing. If the Democrats were to take the White House, a GOP-controlled Senate would be an important check on the radical agenda sure to be pushed by the executive branch.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

If by some major miracle the GOP takes both branches of Congress and the White House we WILL expect them to make some changes.

[bitt]

P

[reed13k]

I despise the assumption that McConnel will retain Senate leadership if the pubbies take back the Senate. He’s done little to nothing to push forward the grassroots and MAGA agenda

[nathanbedford]

Republicans gaining control of the Senate is quite likely and a virtual certainty if Trump wins election putting Vance in position to carry tie votes.

West Virginia is a certainty, Montana a near certainty and Ohio increasingly likely. Trump's pulling away in Arizona could open the way for Kari Lake to ride coattails to a narrow victory from behind. Even more likely than Arizona is Pennsylvania where Trump's coattails appear not to be needed because the candidate competes well on his own.

The Senate is not a problem for an upcoming Trump administration, it is the House which is the threat that you quite right rightly point out but there are only about 25 races that are regarded to be in play. Again, the outcome of these races might well depend on Trump's margin of victory.

I am of the view the Trump is now leading and his lead is increasing so that it is likely that this contest will break open. If so Trump will win Bigly affording coattails across-the-board.

[HamiltonJay]

They knew they were losing the senate this cycle. Have to be a special kind of stupid to honestly believe that Manchin and Tester would not be replaced by Republicans this cycle

[nathanbedford]

There are no other issues because $36T debt erases all other issues.

You are quite right, if this issue is not solved no issue can be solved. If this issue is not solved our constitutional republic cannot survive in anything like its present form. The endgame if this issue is not solved is sovereign debt crisis probably camouflaged by the elected political class with inflation which inexorably leads to a death spiral.

Some of us have been so pessimistic on this matter that we fear that when Trump assumes office around 20 January he will find himself having inherited a giant, stinking turd that is unmanageable with the tools provided the chief executive under our constitutional and political system.

That is even if the Senate were to be occupied by patriots of goodwill but we know that any one of the three Johns who are likely successors to Mitch McConnell as Majority Leader of the Senate will exceed to that position for the same reason that Mitch McConnell currently holds the power, he controls huge amounts of money that he uses quite cynically to advance his allies and undermine political foes.

So even with Trump at the helm, even if he can fashion the tools to save the Republic from a sovereign debt crisis, he will not have the allies in the Senate or in the House of Representatives who will work faithfully on his team. They will not do so because if they align themselves with Trump that would expose them naked before the media who will attack them relentlessly.

Trump's history in his first administration was not to attack runaway deficits and debt with austerity but to try to grow out of the threat by cutting regulations, drilling for oil, and cutting taxes. We cannot say that these measures stimulated the GDP enough to close the deficit, which the measures themselves initially contribute to, because Covid swept everything away before the lines could cross.

I hope Trump is right and the steps he has outlined will sufficiently ignite the economy to restore credibility in the bond markets in time to avert catastrophic failure at the discount window.

There are those who believe that technology, especially artificial intelligence, can combine with Trump's solutions to ignite the economy and change the entire equation. Perhaps, perhaps not, but can it come in time?

As daunting as the challenge that faces Donald Trump in January is, there is no reasonable or practical alternative to supporting him wholeheartedly in the effort.

[FLT-bird]

Obviously West Virginia is going to have a Republican

Tester is going down in Montana.

Sherrod Brown is going down in Ohio.

Its looking increasingly like Casey is going down in Pennsylvania.

Senate Races in Arizona, Wisconsin and Michigan are all going to be tight but there's a pretty good chance the Republican candidates get at least 1 of those 3 seats.

Flipping Republican Senate seats in Texas or Florida is a pipe dream for Democrats.

Ergo, I think the Republicans pick up at least 5 Senate seats and retake control over the Senate.

[FLT-bird]

With a Trump victory and Senate control, Thomas and Alito can more safely step down. Hope to have a cushion so Collins and Murkowski won’t be the deciding votes and they can be as “independent” as they want.

Bingo. The danger is passing. With a Democrat in the White House and Democrats controlling the Senate, I was terrified Thomas or Alito would die allowing Democrats to replace them. They just have to hang on for another couple months and that danger will have passed. Fortunately, the Wide Latina refused to step down too. There's a decent chance Trump - with a Republican controlled Senate - will get to replace her in the next 4 years.

We have a lot of catching up to do though with Circuit and District Court judges. Biden was able to push a lot of leftists through in the last 4 years.

[Openurmind]

“Where exactly were you during Trump’s presidency? “

Where were you? We had all three for the first two years and they sat on their butts and did nothing substantial to put a stop to the global agenda. All they do is throw us a bone once in awhile to make us think they are working for us. But at the end of the day the leopards have only painted over their spots to hide them. Sooner or later it always washes off and they show their spots again.

“It made no difference to have Republicans in control of the Senate to get all of those judicial nominations through, including 3 Supreme Court justices?”

About that, Have those justices actually been loyal WHERE it REALLY COUNTS? No... And the two faced back stabbers knew this before hand.

You are loyal to representatives who are not loyal to you. All they care about is tossing their constituents a bone now and then to appease them. Their end game and loyalty is to the very same globalization of out nation. The talk a lot of talk but they do nothing substantial.

They are all on the same side working towards the same goal. And Trump has been and will be a road block.

[Degaston]

He is getting old. And he remembers what happened with RBG.

[FrdmLvr]

It depends on how many of them are MAGA Republicans. It’s shifting to MAGA. Nothing happens overnight, so we keep pressing forward.

[EQAndyBuzz]

“It doesn’t matter, no difference. We could have the House and the Senate both and they will still fight Trump every step of the way to keep him from getting anything done. “

I think this time will be different. I think Johnson will support Trump’s efforts in congress.

[KC Burke]

Just after turning 70 my Doctor told me I might easily live to 90 like my dad. Seven months l was diagnosed with Stage 3 stomach cancer. At that time over 90% gone in five years. It has been five years plus and I am cancer free. Old age arrives with a lot of uncertainty.

[MIA_eccl1212]

you are not permitted to die, until you finish your job... on this side of the curtain.

[Openurmind]

“It depends on how many of them are MAGA Republicans. It’s shifting to MAGA. Nothing happens overnight, so we keep pressing forward.”

Absolutely, and there are not enough yet to keep them from hamstringing Trump. Trump is going to buy us four years and they will be right back to the Communist games again. One day one if he is elected EVERY Republican voter needs to bail out and form a MAGA party. The establishment GOP need to be abolished. This will be the only way to save this Nation AFTER Trump.

[Openurmind]

“I think this time will be different. I think Johnson will support Trump’s efforts in congress.”

Johnson is going to only support Johnson. He does not support Trump and he does not support us. He only tries to appease us enough to keep himself in the chair.