Democrat Michael Bennet, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, won the Senate race in Colorado in 2010 with a plurality of 48 percent in a seven-way race. Handicappers say Colorado will be one of the most competitive states this year yet Bennet’s prospects are brightening, and could improve markedly, due to Republican infighting.
Analysts Larry Sabato and Kyle Kondik say they would rate the Colorado race for the Senate as “likely Democratic” if businessman Donald Trump is the GOP nominee. That’s a stronger position than the current “leans Democratic” assigned by Sabato’s Crystal Ball or the “tilts Democratic” assessment by Roll Call. Republicans have yet to agree on a candidate and Bennet started the year with $6.7 million in the bank, notes the Washington Post.
Conversely, the Senate race in Iowa would become more competitive, says the Crystal Ball. Six-tern Republican Charles Grassley, an Agriculture Committee member, is sure to be re-elected according to current ratings. That would change to “likely Republican,” says the Crystal Ball, with Trump at the top of the ticket. “As unlikely as it seems at present, perhaps even a Senate institution, Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, could find himself in unexpected trouble, particularly if Republicans find their opposition to holding a vote, or even hearings, on President Obama’s eventual nominee to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is unpopular.”
Patty Judge, “a lifelong Iowan, farmer and political officeholder,” announced her candidacy for the Democratic nomination against Grassley, said the Cedar Rapids Gazette.
“Democrats are now poised to take over the Senate in November,” wrote political analyst Stu Rothenberg, pointing to expectations of a protracted struggle between Trump and Sen Ted Cruz for the GOP nomination. Republicans control the Senate, 54-46, so Democrats must pick up five seats to be assured of a majority in 2017. Republicans are defending 24 seats and Democrats 10 – “a difficult challenge” for Republicans, Rothenberg wrote in Roll Call. “But now, with Republicans in disarray and the party flirting with selecting a weak general election nominee, the benefit of the doubt has shifted away from the GOP and to the Democrats.”