With President Biden struggling in national polls, Republicans are gaining confidence in taking back the White House in 2024. But the GOP has an equal or better chance of taking the U.S. Senate, where Democrats currently hold a 51-49 majority. One seat that is an almost assured Republican pickup is in deep-red West Virginia, where moderate Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin is not seeking re-election. "Other races that are intriguing in terms of being kind of a toss-up are Arizona, with Kyrsten Sinema, Montana with Jon Tester, and Ohio with Sherrod Brown," says Vlad Davidiuk, GOP strategist.
Arizona is particularly interesting, where Democrat-turned-Independent Sen. Sinema is facing challenges from the left and the right. Democrat Congressman Ruben Gallego is challenging Sinema, along with former GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake. "Sinema has really gotten Democrats so upset with her actions in the Senate that they are actively campaigning against her, and weakening her even further," says Davidiuk.
Republicans are eyeing pickups in several states, including the aforementioned Ohio with veteran Democrat Sen. Brown, Montana Democrat Sen. Tester, who was narrowly re-elected in the deep red state last time around, as well as vulnerable Democrat incumbents in Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Davidiuk tells KTRH the Dems are definitely on defense this cycle, even when it comes to some of their blue-state stalwarts. "Comrade (Bernie) Sanders in Vermont, Senator Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts are both starting to become more vulnerable because of their age," he says. "We've seen questions about the age of President Biden, Senator Dianne Feinstein (who recently passed away at age 90) and Senator Mitch McConnell, who froze up while speaking on recent occasions."
As for Republican vulnerabilities, Democrats are pointing to Texas and Florida, where Sens. Ted Cruz and Rick Scott are up for re-election. Davidiuk predicts both will hold their seats in the solid red states, especially with the presidential race on the ballot. "Republicans are going to be strongly motivated to turn out to really send a message to the failed Biden regime," he says. "I think 2024 is going to be a very strong year for Republican candidates up and down the ballot, especially in the Senate."