Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., is taking his name out of consideration to head the effort to get Democratic senators re-elected in 2018 when his party is expected to have 23 seats up for election and Republicans will be defending eight.
“This is really not the right time for my family – for me to be taking on the kind of role of chairing the DSCC for the 2018 cycle, and I have conveyed that to my caucus leadership,” Coons told reporters Tuesday afternoon about his decision not to seek the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chairmanship.
“I obviously support my caucus and I want us to be successful in the process of governing and legislating and in the next electoral cycle,” he said. “But I just think taking on a role and a chairmanship of a role that will be so demanding in personal time for me at this stage of my family, it’s just not the right time.”
The decision to steer clear of the chairmanship comes after Coons was an early aspirant for the DSCC post. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., won the post in 2014 as the Senate elections appeared to heavily favor Democrats.
This year, 24 Republicans held seats up for re-election compared to just 10 Democrats. In the end, however, only two Republicans lost their seats to Democrats in Illinois and New Hampshire, and Republicans won in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri, Florida and North Carolina.
After Trump’s victory last week, right now the 2018 Democratic effort to retake the Senate majority appears even more daunting.
Along with the 23 Democrats up for re-election, two independents who caucus with the Democrats will face the end of their terms: Clinton’s Democratic primary challenger, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and Sen. Angus King of Maine.
