That was fast — or will be. The likelihood that Republicans will win enough seats to take control of the Senate in the Nov. 4 midterm elections is already being tempered with predictions that it won’t last long.
Rob Engstrom, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce political director, is warning that come 2016, it’s just as likely that the Democrats will win back the Senate. That year, 24 Republican seats will be up for re-election compared with just 10 Democrats. And the Democratic Senate seats are all in blue states President Obama won in 2012.
“We are likely, in my opinion, to have a divided house, a House that is Republican and a Senate that is Democrat,” he told University of Arkansas students this month during a visit to Little Rock.
As for this year, Engstrom, a former political whiz kid at the Republican National Committee, sees the GOP winning 51 or 52 seats in the 100-chair Senate.
His address to the Clinton School came during a busy election season when top Democrats, including former President Bill Clinton, has been crisscrossing the nation to help Democrats, including Arkansas Sen. Mark Pryor.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
