Three states are on the clock for control of the U.S. Senate as we have less than three months until the 2020 election.
Arizona, Kansas, and Michigan all went red in the 2016 presidential election. But since, Trump has been in office, the pendulum has swung to the left. In Arizona, Kyrsten Sinema became the first Democrat to win a U.S. Senate seat since 1988 in the 2018 midterm election. During that same election cycle, both Kansas and Michigan flipped their governors’ mansions blue, electing Laura Kelly and Gretchen Whitmer, respectively.
These three states are critical in deciding the balance of power in the U.S. Senate. Holding 47 seats, Democrats just need 4 net wins to either remove President Trump from office if he’s re-elected or implement the agenda of a President Joe Biden.
For Arizona, Republican Sen. Martha McSally is in a very tough race against former NASA astronaut Mark Kelly. McSally lost her Senate bid to Sinema in 2018, but due to Sen. John McCain passing away after a lengthy battle with cancer, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey appointed McSally to finish out his term. McSally faces a primary challenge from businessman Daniel McCarthy, who is making the case that McSally isn’t conservative enough. Kelly, on the other hand, is running in the Democratic primary unopposed.
But McSally doesn’t seem too concerned over her primary challenge. In an interview on my podcast “Hashing it Out,” McSally has had her sights set on Kelly from the get-go, alluding to Kelly hiding in the basement like presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
Meanwhile, in Kansas, the Republican party is in the middle of a bitter civil war between the former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and Congressman Roger Marshall, vying for the seat of Sen. Pat Roberts who is retiring after this term.
Kobach, who lost the 2018 gubernatorial election to Laura Kelly, has been a strong supporter of President Trump, and if his fight against the GOP establishment is successful by getting the nomination, Democrats will find that seat ripe for the picking.
Finally, in Michigan, it’s Democrats who are on defense. Sen. Gary Peters, the incumbent, is all set to go against businessman and Iraq War veteran John James.
James, who lost to incumbent Debbie Stabenow in the 2018 midterm election, sees the window of opportunity widen in Michigan as it was reported in the New York Post in July, Sen. Peters’ great-great-grandfather harbored John Wilkes Booth following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.
If cancel culture is real, John James would get 100% of the vote by that discovery alone.
