Taking control of the Senate is going to determine whether Joe Biden would be able to deliver on the sweeping agenda he’s promising as president. But most of the Democratic challengers hoping to knock off Republican incumbents were left out of the eight-hour convention broadcast.
Senate candidates M.J. Hegar (Texas), Theresa Greenfield (Iowa), and Cal Cunningham (North Carolina) were all left out of the convention spotlight. Media darling Amy McGrath, running against Mitch McConnell in Kentucky, and former media darling Jon Ossoff, running against David Perdue in Georgia, were also left out.
Former presidential candidates such as Seth Moulton and Tim Ryan made appearances, but Steve Bullock and John Hickenlooper did not despite the fact that both of them were governors and are now trying to flip Republican seats in Montana and Colorado, respectively.
The only candidates who made an appearance had blink-and-you-miss-it cameos. Jaime Harrison pledged South Carolina’s delegates during the convention roll call. Mark Kelly, running in Arizona, didn’t appear himself; he was name-dropped by his wife Gabrielle Giffords during her speech. And Sara Gideon, running to unseat Susan Collins in Maine, was relegated to introducing a musical performance.
For as important as retaking the Senate appears to be, Democrats don’t seem to care too much about the candidates they’ve sent out. Their convention featured former Republicans who lobbied for Vladimir Putin’s Russia, a collection of state legislators, and a TikTok celebrity whose only talent is being able to lip-sync President Trump’s speeches while making silly facial expressions. Somehow, Senate candidates don’t fit into that star-studded lineup.
The strategy Democrats are using to push Biden to victory is the same one they’re using against Senate Republicans: Trump is bad. Therefore, it doesn’t really matter who it is running against Collins or Colorado’s Cory Gardner or North Carolina’s Thom Tillis — all that really matters is that they’re Republicans, just like Trump.
Trying to tie Senate Republicans to the polling anchor that is Trump might look great this far out, but most elections will tighten down the stretch, meaning that Trump should close some of the gap on Biden. Considering all but one Republican outran Trump in Senate races in 2016, that could push Democrats back into the underdog role in retaking the upper chamber, especially if the defining trait they are relying on is “but Trump.”
