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Cook Political Report shifts Minnesota Senate race toward GOP while South Carolina race moves left
Washington Examiner ^ | October 20, 2026 | Molly Parks

Posted on 10/20/2026 12:57:35 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican

Election forecaster Cook Political Report shifted Minnesota’s Senate race toward GOP nominee Michele Tafoya on Tuesday, while shifting two other Senate races in favor of of Democrats in Mississippi and South Carolina.

The forecaster moved Minnesota’s Senate race from “Likely Democrat” to “Leans Democrat” in a blow to Democratic nominee Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan as she takes on Tafoya for the open seat. It has been one of the only Senate shifts in favor of Republicans from major election forecasters so far this cycle.

“Republicans have been bullish on Minnesota for months given the state’s welfare fraud scandal, and they hope that voters’ concerns about corruption will stick to Democratic Senate nominee Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan. Recent polling has shown Flanagan slightly underperforming where she should be given the national environment,” Cook Political Report’s Jessica Taylor wrote.

Tafoya cleared the third fundraising quarter with over $2.1 million in cash on hand, while Flanagan had over $1.5 million. Flanagan leads Tafoya by about a 3.2-percentage-point average margin, according to RealClearPolitics’s average.

Cook Political Report also shifted Mississippi and South Carolina’s races toward Democrats on Tuesday, marking a blow to incumbent Republican Sens. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) and Darline Graham (R-SC). Hyde-Smith is facing a challenge from Democrat Scott Colom, while Graham is facing a challenge from Democrat Annie Andrews, in two states that have seen an influx of spending from national Democrats and Republicans in recent weeks.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...


TOPICS: Politics
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1 posted on 10/20/2026 12:57:35 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: MinorityRepublican

What the hell is happening to the South?


2 posted on 10/20/2026 12:58:44 PM PDT by fwdude (Why is there a "far/radical right," but damned if they'll admit that there is a far/radical left)
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To: fwdude

Uh. Let’s see: in South Carolina could it be that the voters nominated a candidate for misplaced sentimental reasons, instead of a qualified candidate?


3 posted on 10/20/2026 1:01:42 PM PDT by j.havenfarm (25 years on Free Republic, 12/10/25! More than 12,750 replies and still not shutting up!)
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To: fwdude

What’s happening is the pollsters...

That said, the “Somalia/Walz poll released today shows:

3% of voters support Trump
98% of voters want more Somalis to move to the United States
92% of voters want jails opened and criminals set free
60% of voters want MAGA members put in prison for life
38% of voters want MAGA members murdered.


4 posted on 10/20/2026 1:11:57 PM PDT by GOPJ ( How much money did USAID give Ukraine? How many jobs did Ukraine give liberal elite's NEPO brats?)
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To: fwdude

A RINO is running for the Senate.


5 posted on 10/20/2026 1:14:38 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: MinorityRepublican

Read the article....SC is from likely R to lean R and MS from solid R to likely R....hardly earth shattering...just win. MN from likely D to lean D....just go out and vote. R’s in Texas are doing that heavily in early voting (anecdotally observed by own family in our polling places)


6 posted on 10/20/2026 1:16:12 PM PDT by BK_in Central Texas
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To: fwdude

Nothing. Disregard this doom and gloom. Deep red Southern states will stay that way. Guaranteed. Including Texas.


7 posted on 10/20/2026 1:18:01 PM PDT by Midwesterner53
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To: MinorityRepublican

Fake polls by fake news


8 posted on 10/20/2026 1:26:55 PM PDT by bray (Thank God for Israel)
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To: fwdude

Trumps insatiable ego got in the way of sound judgement in his endorsement of Darlene Graham. Nice lady, just simply not ready for prime time.


9 posted on 10/20/2026 1:42:47 PM PDT by buckalfa (More chaos and disruption please)
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To: MinorityRepublican

What do the ballot counters say?


10 posted on 10/20/2026 1:48:47 PM PDT by Organic Panic ( )
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To: fwdude
"What the hell is happening to the South?"

They ran weak candidate in Graham's sister. Not more complicated than that.

11 posted on 10/20/2026 2:09:39 PM PDT by Sir_Humphrey (I'll support Trump when I think he's right. I'll oppose him when I think he's wrong. As it should be)
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To: buckalfa

Agreed! And there were so many other good candidates In SC that could have run and won!


12 posted on 10/20/2026 2:09:51 PM PDT by Joann37 (This )
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To: BK_in Central Texas
R’s in Texas are doing that heavily in early voting (anecdotally observed by own family in our polling places)

I wish we were seeing that in our part of Central Texas. Other than the occasional sign, the only input we have that Paxton is even running for office is all of the negative mailers, flyers, and TV commercials we're getting bombarded with from anti-Paxton forces, along with some pro-Talarico supporters.

13 posted on 10/20/2026 2:09:55 PM PDT by CatOwner (Don't expect anyone, even conservatives, to have your back when the SHTF in 2021 and beyond.)
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To: BK_in Central Texas

Every single poll that shows internals (about half so far that I’ve seen so far this year don’t, thus propaganda) are using the same mix of D/R/I to show propaganda as what we saw with 2016. The polling is that bad.

Also, they’re flat out ignoring the funding issues.

RNC is flush and has $500 million on hand.
DNC is flat broke. They borrowed $15 million and put their HQ up as collateral.

National parties do the GOTV efforts.
Pushing that to state and locals is a 30-40% increased ask for the candidates or state/local candidates.

Also, their normal split for parties out of power on motivation is usually a 72-64 ratio. Meaning the party out of power has motivation of 72 and out of 64. This year, it’s 71-71.

Next piece is that the voter registration changes with D’s losing 4 million voters, R’s gaining 1.7 million and I’s gaining 6 million.

It’s going to be VERY interesting. Money also pushes races. Last minute pushes make a difference. Musk just put $158 million into Texas and Trump’s superPAC is putting $400 million into play nationwide. The MN spending will awkwardly tilt in the R favor very dramatically in a day or two.


14 posted on 10/20/2026 2:20:17 PM PDT by spacewarp (Want freedom? Reject Dems.)
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To: BK_in Central Texas

Every single poll that shows internals (about half so far that I’ve seen so far this year don’t, thus propaganda) are using the same mix of D/R/I to show propaganda as what we saw with 2016. The polling is that bad.

Also, they’re flat out ignoring the funding issues.

RNC is flush and has $500 million on hand.
DNC is flat broke. They borrowed $15 million and put their HQ up as collateral.

National parties do the GOTV efforts.
Pushing that to state and locals is a 30-40% increased ask for the candidates or state/local candidates.

Also, their normal split for parties out of power on motivation is usually a 72-64 ratio. Meaning the party out of power has motivation of 72 and out of 64. This year, it’s 71-71.

Next piece is that the voter registration changes with D’s losing 4 million voters, R’s gaining 1.7 million and I’s gaining 6 million.

It’s going to be VERY interesting. Money also pushes races. Last minute pushes make a difference. Musk just put $158 million into Texas and Trump’s superPAC is putting $400 million into play nationwide. The MN spending will awkwardly tilt in the R favor very dramatically in a day or two.


15 posted on 10/20/2026 2:20:19 PM PDT by spacewarp (Want freedom? Reject Dems.)
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To: Sir_Humphrey

The SC Gop did nothing wrong.

TRUMP pushed this aborting loving disaster just like
Trump pushed
Vivek a Indian invader and H1 visas lover.

GOP primaries without Trump Awful Interference have decent candidate’s vs Trump Duds.

I am worried about Donnie disaster Fl Gov pick.
I am scared of the Gullium effect.
Fingers crossed.


16 posted on 10/20/2026 2:29:35 PM PDT by ncalburt
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To: ncalburt

Don’t forget Dr.Oz in PA and Herschel Walker in GA.


17 posted on 10/20/2026 2:35:36 PM PDT by Jim Noble (Assez de mensonges et des phrases)
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To: Midwesterner53

I hope you’re right.


18 posted on 10/20/2026 2:38:26 PM PDT by fwdude (Why is there a "far/radical right," but damned if they'll admit that there is a far/radical left)
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To: MinorityRepublican

This Cook report has a poor track record and the son of the founder
stated years ago, his father is just a Dem operative.


19 posted on 10/20/2026 2:44:58 PM PDT by ncalburt
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To: ncalburt

Here was Cook’s views on the 2024 Presidential election.

https://www.270towin.com/maps/cook-political-report-2024-electoral-college-ratings

He had all seven swing states “too close to call”.

That is zero for seven in my book—with the errors all being in the Democrat’s favor.

The odds of that being innocent errors approaches zero.


20 posted on 10/20/2026 2:57:16 PM PDT by cgbg (Four seconds is all it takes to beat the brainwashing.)
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