Source: The Other 98%
In November 2020, it’s not just the presidency that’s at stake. It’s also the control of the Senate.
35 Senate seats are up for election on November 3: 12 Democrat incumbents and 23 Republican incumbents (along with two special elections).
Below is a list of the 10 most vulnerable Republican incumbents. These are the seats that may be the easiest to flip on election day.
Source: Flickr
Senator Susan Collins, a moderate Republican who was a proponent for reproductive rights, turned into a weak voter in favor of Trump’s acquittal and his Supreme Court appointee, Judge Brett Kavanaugh.
What she said about impeachment: “My vote to acquit the President was not based on predicting his future behavior. It was based solely on the issue, whether or not the house managers reached the high bar for removing a duly elected president. And in my judgment, they did not.”
Why she might be in trouble: One poll showed her disapproval rating at 53%, and Maine has proven to have a lot of Democratic support. In fact, it has voted blue in the last seven of the presidential elections.
Sara Gideon has announced that she is running against Collins in 2020. She raised a million dollars immediately after she declared her campaign in December.
Source: Flickr/Gage Skidmore
Senator Cory Gardner, who has voted solidly conservative, is running again in 2020. While he generally votes red, when he disagrees with the Trump administration, Gardner does “more than posture,” according to the Washington Post.
Be that as it may, Gardner still voted to acquit Trump in the impeachment trial.
What he said about impeachment: “The question before us is whether or not a policy question can be grounds for impeachment. The policy question is, can the president be impeached for looking at how taxpayer dollars are being spent? I simply don’t think that’s true.”
Why he might be in trouble: In the 2018 elections, Colorada was washed in blue. Democrats took all five of the state executive offices and they took control of the state Legislature—the first time they have done so since 1936.
There are 10 Democrat primary candidates running a challenge to Gardner, including former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, who was also a Democrat primary candidate for president. Hickenlooper is leading the race among primary candidates, raising $2.8 million in a quarter.
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Martha McSally was appointed to the Senate after the death of Senator John McCain. She had previously lost an election for another seat in 2018.
A group of veterans had previously approached her to ask how she felt about Colonel Vindman being under attack for his service. McSally simply walked away.
She was also fined $23,000 for campaign finance violations that were found back in 2014.
What she said about impeachment: “The American people collectively are better fit to judge Donald Trump’s presidency as a whole than the partisan politicians in Washington who brought forth this impeachment.”
Why she might be in trouble: Her approval ratings in the state have been pretty bad as of late. Plus, the Lincoln Project has made her one of the Trump hacks to eliminate in 2020. The project released a brutal campaign ad that went viral on social media.
4 Democrats are running against McSally in the primaries. Retired astronaut Mark Kelly, the husband of former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ), is one of those running against McSally. He has received much support, outraising McSally in 2019 with $14 million from donors.
Source: Wikipedia
David Perdue, noted as “Trump’s man inside the senate,” according to the Washington Examiner, is running again in Georgia. Perdue votes solidly conservative. Trump’s legislative director Marc Short told the Examiner, “I’d say there’s been no more ardent supporter of the president.”
In 2018, when a student asked the senator about voter fraud in Georgia, Perdue snatched his phone from him, in what the office called a “misunderstanding.”
Perdue voted to acquit Trump in the impeachment trial.
What he said about impeachment: “It’s not the Senate’s job to clean up the illegitimate case presented by House Democrats.”
Why he might be in trouble: Georgia has seen a boom in Democratic voters since Stacey Abrams made her run for governor. While she may have lost her election, she gave a “massive head start” to the other Democrats in the state.
10 Democrat primary challengers are currently running in this race, including Jon Ossoff.
Source: Flickr/Gage Skidmore
Senator Joni Ernst is running for re-election in 2020. The junior senator from Iowa has voted solidly in the red since she took her position.
Ernst not only voted to acquit Trump in the impeachment trial but also said that if Joe Biden were elected president, he would be immediately impeached.
What she said about impeachment: “Given the constitutional requirements, voting any other way on these articles would remove the ability of the American people to make their own decision at the ballot box in November. This process was fraught from the start with political aims and partisan innuendos that simply cannot be overlooked.”
Why she might be in trouble: Farmers in Iowa are feeling the pain of Trump’s trade war, and it isn’t likely to earn Ernst any points come election day. Plus, two Iowa House seats were flipped by Democrats in 2018 which is another reason the Senator should be nervous.
Five Democrats are running against Ernst in the primary. Theresa Greenfield seems likely to secure the candidacy.
Source: Flickr / Gage Skidmore
Moscow Mitch has blocked over 400 bipartisan bills from coming into the Senate while ensuring that Trump’s impeachment trial would go no further than a hearing.
“It seems like he’s serving himself,” said Illinois Congresswoman Robin Kelly.
Kentucky hasn’t been too happy with McConnell. An editorial in the Kentucky paper, the Louisville Courier-Journal, accused the senator of violating his oath of office.
McConnell not only voted to acquit Trump in the impeachment hearings but was the main reason Trump was acquitted.
What he said about impeachment: “I didn’t rig anything. We had a vote. No vote was prevented. No debate was prevented. These guys didn’t have the votes.”
Why he might be in trouble: McConnell is one of the least liked senators in the entire country, and his challenger Amy McGrath was able to raise $2.5 million on her very first day of fundraising. The governor’s race last year could be another indication of what is in store. Trump went all-in for the Republican incumbent, but he was ultimately defeated by Democrat Andy Beshear.
Recent polls show McGrath and McConnell neck and neck in the 2020 election.
Source: Wikimedia
The Mississippi senator who rocked the boat with her “public hanging” remarks in 2018 did not get any more popular in 2019 with her impeachment vote.
Hyde-Smith, who has traditionally voted Republican, also voted to acquit Trump in the impeachment hearings.
What she said about impeachment: “The founding fathers warned against allowing impeachment to become a political weapon. In this case, House Democrats crossed that line. Rejecting the abuse of power and obstruction of Congress articles before us will affirm our belief in the impeachment standards intended by the founders.”
Why she might be in trouble: Hyde-Smith was appointed to her seat, and she may not be able to hold it in an election—especially with her penchant of making comments that can be used as ammunition by her opponents.
Four Democrats, including Mike Espy, are running against Hyde-Smith. She has currently raised less than $1.3 million. It is a fundraising amount that would have other Senate hopefuls throwing in the towel.
Source: Flickr/Gage Skidmore
The North Carolina senator defended the racist chants of the Trump crowd earlier in the summer of 2019. When the crowd yelled about Rep. Ilhan Omar, “Send her back,” Tillis had a defense.
“Any one of y’all that have been to a rock concert or other venues, somebody starts up, somebody else thinks . . . I mean, to be fair to the audience, they’re in a mode where they’re energized,” said Tillis to the Washington Post.
One of his more recent ideas was that Congress should compel cities and counties to obey ICE.
Tillis also voted to acquit Trump in the impeachment trial.
What he said about impeachment: “Given the presumption of innocence in America, one can wonder how Democrats could justify a vote to convict President Trump without hearing from witnesses who they claimed were essential to the case.”
Why he might be in trouble: Tillis was booed while attending a Trump rally in North Carolina.
5 Democrats are running against Tillis in the primary before the election. Challenger Cal Cunningham has already raised nearly as much as Tillis in campaign donations.
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Lindsey Graham used to be one of Trump’s biggest critics. Then something changed. The Senator that rallied to impeach Clinton groveled to acquit Trump.
In other policies, he also broke the rules of his own committee in order to force a vote on a bill about immigration. The bill would allow for the indefinite detention of migrant children.
What he said about impeachment: “So acquittal will happen in about two hours, exoneration comes when President Trump gets reelected because the people of the United States are fed up with this crap.”
Why he might be in trouble: Graham’s starring role in the impeachment trial didn’t do him any favors. In December, he was polling at just 38% approval.
Four Democrats are running for the primary, including Jaime Harrison, who has raised $3.6 million in the last three months of 2019.
Source: Wikipedia
The Texas senator is up for re-election in 2020. He still thinks that the only reason there isn’t a bipartisan vote on health insurance is because of Democrats.
Cornyn has voted solidly Republican. He voted to acquit Trump in the impeachment hearings.
What he said about impeachment: “We should all believe that the results of the next election should be decided by the American people, not by Congress. The decision to remove a president from office requires undeniable evidence of a high crime.”
Why he might be in trouble: The fact that Beto O’Rourke came so close to beating Senator Ted Cruz in 2018 has many thinking Cornyn’s seat may be in trouble.
12 Democrats are running against Cornyn, and although none of them have gotten the nationwide attention O’Rourke was able to garner, Democrats in Texas are still quite hopeful.
