Democrats face ‘impossible map’ to retake US Senate

One political analyst calls it “an almost impossible map.” Others are even less optimistic.

But despite the Democrats’ long odds to retake the U.S. Senate in November’s congressional elections, party strategists meeting in Chicago this week say the escalating legal troubles of President Donald Trump’s former associates and corruption scandals engulfing Republicans could boost Democrats chances. The path, however, remains difficult.

Democrats are defending two dozen Senate seats this cycle - including 10 in states Trump won in 2016, some by huge margins. They need a net total of two seats to seize control of the chamber.

Having a majority would allow the party to derail or stall much of Trump’s policy agenda and increase congressional oversight and investigation of the administration, as well as complicate future conservative nominations to the U.S. Supreme Court should another vacancy occur. Stu Rothenberg, a non-partisan political analyst, called the Senate landscape “an almost impossible map” for Democrats. But, he added, given the headwinds facing Republicans, “the Senate could be in play.”

In interviews at the Democratic National Committee’s summer meeting in Chicago, a dozen party strategists, party members and candidates discussed the party’s path and strategy to winning back the Senate, which Democrats last controlled in 2014.