Buckle Up America: The 2018 Midterm Elections Opening Round

Buckle up for a vicious, multibillion-dollar fight for control of the Senate in 2018.  Up for re-election are 33 senators; 23 Democrats, 2 independents who caucus with Democrats and 8 Republicans.

Only two GOP senators (Flake of Arizona and Heller of Nevada) are considered truly vulnerable while 10 Senate Democrats up for re-election in states that Trump won in 2016 can be unseated if we organize to replace them with a candidate who will work for us─We The People.

Election history has shown the party that controls the White House almost always loses seats in Congress during midterm elections.  It’s up to us to rewrite that history.

Democrats will need to pick up three seats to retake control of the Senate.  Republicans will need a net gain of eight seats to hit the coveted 60-vote threshold to break a filibuster.  Political experts are cocksure such an outcome is far-fetched.  I believe we can force those experts to eat their words like when Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight gave Hillary a 79% chance of winning the 2016 presidential election compared to Donald Trump’s 20%.

The Toss-Up races are Flake (R-AZ), Donnelly (D-IN), McCaskill (D-MO), Heitkamp (D-ND), Heller (R-NV) and Manchin (D-WV).

The Tilt Democrat races are Nelson (D-FL), Tester (D-MT) and Baldwin (D-WI).  The Lean Democrat races are Brown (D-OH) and Casey (D-PA).  The Likely Democrat races are Smith who was appointed to replace disgraced Al Franken (D-MN) and Kaine who was Hillary’s running mate (D-VA).

DEMFAX will be an ongoing feature here at Political Clown Parade in an effort to keep everyone informed in the run-up to the primaries and the general election.  Republicans have been apathetic for far too long.  Perhaps with the passage of the tax reform bill they’ve finally learned how to fight.  The long knives will be out in 2018.  Need proof?

A feminista touted as a legal analyst and CNN commentator noted on December 22, 2016:

While the year saw the rise of Trump, this is not the beginning of his term, it is the end. As painful as it has been to watch him and his supporters rally, theirs is merely a last gasp of a dying world view.

That's what 2017 represents for me: a last gasp by Trump and the bigoted, sexist, nationalist and greedy forces that propelled him to power. 

[snip]

2017 is the last gasp. Trump's world will come to an end. In fact, just remove Trump and much of this madness disappears. And he will be removed. He'll cross too many lines. Hell, he might even be removed from office. There will be another president. The damage will get reversed─and Americans, proud of who we really are, will be the ones left standing. 

[snip]

The best thing for us to do, as he seems to lose his grip on reality, is to hold tight to ours. Continue to show up to the polls, ask questions, demand answers, speak up and step up, run for office. 

All the Democrats have is their deep-seated hatred.  They will say “if you hate Donald Trump vote for me.”  They have nothing to offer.  Nothing.

As I mentioned above, this will be an ongoing effort here on this blog.  We must mobilize and fight back.

The primaries critical to gaining the 60-vote threshold in the Senate are:  Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Montana, North Dakota, Virginia, Missouri, Wisconsin and Florida.