199 replies to this topic

[caltrek]

That's right, I have started a new thread dedicated to the 2018 U.S. Senate elections.

 

First up:

 

Curt Schilling has Decided to Challenge Elizabeth Warren for Senate — If His Wife Approves

 

https://www.washingt...-wife-approves/

 

 

 

Curt Schilling edged closer to something he has been considering for some time: Challenging Elizabeth Warren for her Massachusetts Senate seat in 2018.

 

Schilling announced Monday that he has made up his mind — that is, if his wife approves.

 

“So I’ve made my decision. I’m going to run,” he said on WPRO (via Ted Nesi). “But, but I haven’t talked to Shonda, my wife. And ultimately it’s going to come down to how her and I feel this would affect our marriage and our kids.”

 

The former major league pitcher and ESPN commentator, who turns 50 next month, also took questions from listeners to the Rhode Island station. Some of the questions concerned the collapse of his video-game company, 38 Studios, which received a $75-million taxpayer-backed loan in 2010. Two years later, the firm was bankrupt. “I never looked at it as a taxpayer investment,” he said, since he didn’t think the company would go broke.

 

  

 

 

 

[caltrek]

Chuck Schumer - Emerging Deal Maker

 

https://www.yahoo.co...ion.html?ref=gs

 

Extract:

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Democratic Party's fault lines have been overshadowed by the near civil war within the GOP. But Democrats will face their own divisions after Election Day, and the battle over the party's heart, soul and future may well play out on the floor of the Senate, under direction of a new Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer.

 

….The party's resurgent liberal wing, exemplified by Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, will be ready for a fight. But a group of Democratic senators representing red states, including Indiana, West Virginia, Montana and North Dakota, will be up for re-election in 2018, potentially exerting pressure from the opposite direction.

 

All that could leave Schumer in the position of key deal-maker in what's likely to be a new era of divided government in Washington.

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Resisting the Trumpublican Shock Doctrine Blitzkrieg

 

https://ourfuture.or...rine-blitzkrieg

 

Extract

 

Among other things, while Senate Democrats can’t filibuster Trump’s appointments, they have the power to require that every appointment subject to confirmation require 30 hours of debate.

 

That alone can tie up the Senate for several months, delaying the rest of the Trumpublican agenda while giving time for citizens to organize resistance and Trumpian scandals to marinate and escalate.

 

While Republicans can eventually pass some of their agenda by using budget reconciliation which doesn’t allow for a filibuster, most Republican legislation will be subject to the filibuster, which Democratic Senators should use as often as necessary and not be intimidated by charges of obstruction.

 

...Remember that in 1972 Richard Nixon won the largest electoral victory in American history and only a little more than a year late resigned under threat of impeachment.

 

Trump is entering office with only 37% approval ratings, the lowest in recorded history, Hillary Clinton won a popular vote majority. The most hardened Trump supporters may forgive even his most heinous sins, but many ordinary working class and middle class Trump voters may quickly discover that he’s not acting in their interests. He also may rue his decision to pick a fight with the intelligence community before entering office.

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Poll shows Texas Democrat Joaquin Castro Leading Ted Cruz in a Potential 2018 Senate Matchup

 

http://thehill.com/b...exas-dem-castro

 

Introduction:

 

(The Hill) Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) edges out Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in a potential 2018 Senate matchup, a new poll shows.

 

According to the statewide poll numbers released Wednesday by Texas Lyceum, Castro gets 35 percent support of Texas adults in the potential matchup, while Cruz gets 31 percent.

 

And in a matchup between Cruz and Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-Texas), the two are tied at 30 percent.

 

A Democrat hasn't won a Senate race in Texas in 29 years. Cruz, who came in second in last year's GOP presidential primary, has long been considered a big favorite.

 

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Democrats Assail GOP Senators for Health Care Rewrite Secrecy

 

http://www.courthous...ewrite-private/

 

Introduction:

 

WASHINGTON (CN) – Senate Democrats escalated their protest against Republican secrecy over their efforts to repeal and replace the federal health care law Tuesday by shutting down committee hearings. The action came on the heels of a roughly six-hour talkathon staged Monday by the Democrats that stretched past midnight.

 

On Tuesday morning, Senate Democrats invoked the so-called “two -hour” rule, which blocks committee meetings once the Senate has been in session for two hours. Because the Senate convened at 10 a.m. Tuesday, the procedural gambit meant committee hearings scheduled after noon had to be postponed.

 

“As we’ve made clear to our Republican colleagues, if they continue to insist on ramming through a secret health care bill without any public input or debate, they shouldn’t expect business as usual in the Senate,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement.

 

“Before passing a massive bill that will affect the lives of every single American, there ought to be a rigorous and robust debate in committees and a full debate on the floor,” Schumer said.

 

A group of 13 GOP Senators — all men — have been working for weeks behind closed doors on a bill to repeal and replace the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Even their Republican colleagues, who are not privy to the deliberations, say they have not seen what’s in the bill.

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Senate GOP Releases Draft Healthcare Legislation that Pleases Nobody

 

https://nonprofitqua...pleases-nobody/

 

 

Introduction:

 

The GOP caucus in the U.S. Senate has released its version of legislation to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare, passed in 2010. The House passed the American Health Care Act (AHCA) in early May and sent it over to the Senate, which used it to develop the “Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017.” NPQ has followed the AHCA and reported on its introduction and evaluation (“scoring”) by the Congressional Budget Office.

 

The Senate Republicans’ 142-page bill is still actually in the “discussion draft” stage and is an “amendment in the form of a substitute” to the AHCA, technically known as H.R. 1628. The Congressional Budget Office is expected to issue its scoring of the bill early next week. President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) are contemplating a vote on the bill, including numerous amendments, as soon as next week, in order that it be passed before Congress’s scheduled July 4th recess.

 

The Washington Post has developed an excellent graphic comparison of key aspects of the ACA, the AHCA, and the Senate draft. Some aspects of the Senate draft legislation are less draconian than the House version, such as insurance subsidies being calculated using income, age, and geography, as the ACA currently does, rather than using the AHCA formula, which relies primarily on age as a criterion. However, the income levels required to qualify for subsidies would be lower than those under the ACA.

 

The Senate bill retains the AHCA language that effectively makes Planned Parenthood ineligible to receive Medicaid reimbursements for one year. It also provides the option for states to change the definition of “essential health benefits” required to be covered in plans sold in their states. The annual or lifetime caps on coverage included as part of the AHCA are not removed in either the AHCA or Senate GOP bills, but because the AHCA allows states to make changes in essential health benefits, some insured people may see their coverage limited. The Senate version goes further, allowing states to opt out of the ban completely.

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Will The Senate Pass Its Health Care Bill?

 

https://fivethirtyei...alth-care-bill/

 

Introduction:

 

We’ve seen this movie before. Republicans, after a secretive drafting process, finally unveil a health care bill. But the initial reaction is tepid, with both moderate and conservative Republicans expressing “concerns” and demanding changes to the bill.

 

That’s what happened when the House Republican leadership released its health care bill, the American Health Care Act, in March. And that’s what happened on Thursday, when Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell released the Senate’s version of a health care bill, called the Better Care Reconciliation Act.

 

Soon after the BCRA was officially released, four conservative senators — Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Mike Lee and Ron Johnson — issued a statement saying that they were “not ready to vote for this bill,” although they also said they were “open to negotiation” about it. This was hardly the only opposition to the bill, however. According to The Washington Post’s whip count, five other relatively moderate Republicans — Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Dean Heller, Rob Portman and Shelley Moore Capito — said they had serious concerns with the bill, ranging from its defunding of Planned Parenthood to its cutting of funds for Medicaid.1 That would seem to put McConnell in a difficult spot: Assuming no Democrats vote for the bill, McConnell can afford to lose only two of his senators.2 But he already has nine senators objecting to the bill from various directions.

 

We also remember how that other movie ended, however. After a false start in March, when House Speaker Paul Ryan pulled the AHCA from the House floor, Republicans regathered to pass their bill in May by a 217-213 majority.

 

It’s tempting, therefore, to assume that the same process will play out in the Senate and that the BCRA will eventually pass after a few weeks of drama. When the ink is still drying on the bill, as it is right now, Republican senators have lots of incentive to express their concerns, whether to stake out a negotiating position or to posture before their constituents. McConnell is a skilled vote-whipper, however, and the Senate has generally toed the party line in support of the GOP agenda and President Trump. And even if the bill isn’t exactly the one that senators might want, it’s still in line with longstanding GOP policy objectives.

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What The Senate GOP Plan Would Mean For Health Insurance

 

https://fivethirtyei...alth-insurance/

 

 

Introduction:

 

Senate Republicans released the text of their bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act today, and like the House bill before it, the measure would give big tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans and roll back Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor. It also would get rid of the unpopular mandate that most people have insurance or pay a fine.

 

The draft bill, called the Better Care Reconciliation Act, would repeal most taxes in the Affordable Care Act, including two on the wealthiest individuals, a medical device tax, a tax on tanning salons and a tax on the insurance industry. It would also restrict Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood clinics for a year.

 

The measure also includes a host of details that would affect how millions of Americans get their health insurance, how much they pay for it and what it covers. The measure would cut back subsidies that help defray the cost of insurance for people who don’t get it from their employer or a public program. And it would loosen regulations on the insurance markets, likely meaning lower premiums but for more limited health insurance coverage.

 

But how much this bill would affect a person largely depends on how she gets her insurance. The 142-page bill is complex, and it will take some time to fully understand what it would mean for the health care landscape. Still, there are some clear initial takeaways for different groups:1

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The Senators Who Could Take Down The Health Care Bill

 

https://fivethirtyei...alth-care-bill/

 

Introduction:

 

If you’re wondering what will happen with the Senate’s effort to repeal Obamacare, I recommend you follow the words, actions and eventually the votes of four Republican senators over the next days or weeks: Susan Collins (Maine), Mike Lee (Utah), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Rand Paul (Kentucky).

 

Why those four? First, they are part of a broader group of Republican senators who have been complaining about the GOP’s repeal-Obamacare process since the start of the year. Lee and Paul, along with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, have generally worried that the Obamacare repeal may still leave too much of the law in place. “No Obamacare lite,” Paul wrote in February.

 

On the other ideological end, Collins and Murkowski — along with Sens. Bill Cassidy (Louisiana), Shelley Moore Capito (West Virginia), Cory 

Gardner (Colorado), Dean Heller (Nevada) and Rob Portman (Ohio) — have at times pushed back against repealing too much of Obamacare, worrying that the Republicans may not be doing enough to protect people on Medicaid or those with pre-existing conditions.

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Republicans’ Obamacare Repeal Would Cut Taxes — But Mostly In Blue States

 

https://fivethirtyei...in-blue-states/

 

Introduction:

 

While the Senate Republicans’ bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act has been shrouded in secrecy, at least one thing is all but certain: The final bill will include hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts, mostly for the richest Americans. It might seem unsurprising that Republicans are proposing tax cuts, except for one fact: The cuts would go disproportionately to Democratic-leaning states.

 

To fund the insurance expansion, the Affordable Care Act created a variety of new taxes. Some, like those on medical devices, pharmaceuticals and health insurers (and let’s not forget tanning salons), were levied on consumers via the health care industry. But a hefty portion were charged directly to the wealthiest taxpayers. One such tax is a 0.9 percent payroll tax on individuals earning more than $200,000 a year, often referred to as the Medicare surcharge. The other is a 3.8 percent tax on net investment income, also for people who earn more than $200,000.1 These taxes largely affect the top 5 percent of earners, with the majority of the money collected coming from the top 1 percent of earners.

 

A look at who is paying these taxes, based on Statistics of Income data from the Internal Revenue Service, reveals that of the eight states that paid the most in 2014, six voted for Hillary Clinton in last year’s presidential election.2 Those six states collectively accounted for 47 percent of all the money raised by the taxes in 2014.

 

That pattern holds when we look at all states and the District of Columbia, too: These taxes as a whole — both in terms of dollar amounts paid and the share of people paying them — are largely coming from states that leaned Democratic in the 2016 election. That doesn’t necessarily mean the specific people paying the taxes voted for Clinton, of course, but it is revealing in terms of the decisions legislators are making in supporting or rejecting the current health care reform efforts. People in states that backed Clinton in 2016 filed just 44.6 percent of all 2014 tax returns. But residents of those states accounted for 56.3 percent of all taxpayers who paid the investment tax and 59.0 percent of those who paid the Medicare surcharge.3 In all, states that voted for Clinton paid $17.3 billion, which is 59.9 percent of the combined ACA-related taxes. In short, in repealing these taxes, Republican senators would be giving tax breaks predominantly to states that favor their Democratic opponents.

[caltrek]

Dean Heller Becomes Fifth GOP Senator to Oppose Senate Health Care Bill

 

https://www.usatoday...bill/424732001/

 

Introduction:

 

Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada on Friday announced that he will oppose the Senate health care bill, becoming the fifth Senate Republican to publicly announce opposition to his own party's bill.

 

With no Democrats in favor, if more than two Republicans vote no, the bill will not pass the Senate.

 

"This bill that’s currently in front of the United States Senate is not the answer, it’s simply not the answer. And I’m announcing today that in this form I will not support it," Heller said.

 

Heller is considered the most vulnerable senator up for re-election in 2018, and he’s from a state that expanded Medicaid under Obamacare.

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Nation’s Largest Doctors’ Group Slams Republican Health Care Bill

 

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/06/nations-largest-doctors-group-slams-republican-health-care-bill/

 

Introduction:

 

The largest association of doctors in the country released a blistering statement Monday blasting Senate Republicans’ bill to repeal Obamacare. “Medicine has long operated under the precept of Primum non nocere, or ‘first, do no harm,'” reads the letter sent by American Medical Association to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). “The draft legislation violates that standard on many levels.”

 

“Medicine has long operated under the precept of Primum non nocere, or ‘first, do no harm.’ The draft legislation violates that standard on many levels.”

 

The AMA’s letter is particularly scathing when it comes to the GOP’s efforts to reduce Medicaid spending by imposing cap on federal spending. “The Senate proposal to artificially limit the growth of Medicaid expenditures below even the rate of medical inflation threatens to limit states’ ability to address the health care needs of their most vulnerable citizens,” the letter says. “It would be a serious mistake to lock into place another arbitrary and unsustainable formula that will be extremely difficult and costly to fix.” The Congressional Budget Office has yet to offer its analysis of the Senate’s bill; that report is expected later Monday. When the CBO scored the similar bill passed by the House last month, it projected more than $800 billion in cuts to Medicaid spending. In all, the CBO estimated that 23 million fewer people would have insurance under the House bill than under current law.

The doctors’ group is also alarmed that the Senate bill would reduce subsidies designed to help people purchase insurance and … allows states to waive rules requiring insurers to cover a list of essential benefits and limiting out-of-pocket expenses. 

 

“We sincerely hope that the Senate will take this opportunity to change the course of the current debate and work to fix problems with the current system,” the letter concludes. “We believe that Congress should be working to increase the number of Americans with access to quality, affordable health insurance instead of pursuing policies that have the opposite effect, and we renew our commitment to work with you in that endeavor.”

 

Protesters in Denver last week.

David Zalubowski/AP

[caltrek]

Senate Health Care Bill Vote Postponed

 

 

http://www.motherjon...bill-postponed/

 

Introduction

 

Facing resistance from their own party, Senate Republican leaders said Tuesday they would postpone a vote on their healthcare bill until after the July 4th recess, according to two sources familiar with their thinking….Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wants to provide more time to try to convince reluctant GOP senators to vote for the measure.

 

Conventional wisdom says that time is not McConnell’s friend. In fact, it turns out that even a week was too much time. I’d like to say that the Senate bill was just too appalling even for Republicans to take, but I’m not sure that’s quite right. After all, a lot of the pushback has been from tea-party types who think the bill isn’t brutal enough.

 

In any case, the summer recess will now be an opportunity for Republican senators to find out just how dangerous a Yes vote really is. The progressive community needs to make sure they find out. And don’t forget to recruit your moderate conservative friends too. They probably have more influence with your local GOP senator than you do.

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Holdout Republican Senators Are Being Embraced By Home-State Crowds for Opposing Trumpcare

 

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/07/holdout-republican-senators-are-being-embraced-by-home-state-crowds-for-opposing-trumpcare/

 

Introduction:

 

With the memory of Spring’s rowdy town hall events fresh in their minds, Senate Republicans largely appear to be dodging public events with voters—many of whom are expressing anger over the party’s plans to kill Obamacare—while back home for the current recess. 

 

Only a handful participated in their local Fourth of July parades, historically friendly ground for lawmakers returning to their home states. The common thread among these lawmakers? Their criticism of their own party’s legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. 

 

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Me.), who has said she would oppose the Senate-generated Better Care Reconciliation Act barring significant amendments, was one of the Republican senators to appear at local festivities, where she was met with appreciation.

 

“What I’ve been hearing the entire recess is people telling me to be strong, that they have a lot of concerns about the health care bill in the senate, they want me to keep working on it, but they don’t want me to support it in its current form,” Collins said during Tuesday’s parade in Eastport.

 

“Most people don’t ask ‘for or against,’ ” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), another Republican senator who has signaled she may vote “no” on the bill, told the Washington Post during a Fourth of July event in Wrangell. “They just say, ‘Make sure you’re taking care of our interests.’ In fairness for those that do the ‘for or against,’ everybody is pretty much [saying] they don’t think this is good for us.”

[caltrek]

GOP Tensions Rise Over Cruz Proposal

 

http://www.msn.com/e...=ob-fb-enus-280

 

Extract:

 

Tensions between Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his old antagonist, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), have reappeared in the high-stakes negotiation over healthcare reform.

 

Cruz is insisting on a reform to the Senate GOP bill that senior GOP aides say is a nonstarter with much - if not most - of the Republican conference

While Cruz sought out Health Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) to play what he promised would be a constructive role in the debate, senior GOP aides say Cruz is no longer being agreeable.

 

Instead, he is again being a thorn in McConnell's side, much like he was in 2013, when he insisted on blocking a government spending bill unless it included language halting the implementation of ObamaCare, the staffers argue. Two years ago, Cruz famously called McConnell a liar on the Senate floor amid a debate on the Export-Import Bank.

 

…"I would say that if we voted on the Cruz proposal, it would be in the neighborhood of 37 to 15 against, 37 no votes and 15 yeses, and that's probably generous," said a GOP aide familiar with the Senate negotiations.

 

It really says something very disturbing about the GOP that if they had managed to stop Trump from getting the nomination, Cruz would have likely been the nominee instead.  

 

The good news is that this division within the GOP seems to mean that the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) will stay in place, at least for the time being. This is because Cruz says that he won't vote for repeal unless it is his approach that is adopted. 

[Sciencerocks]

Cruz wants to destroy healthcare for everyone besides the very rich. The guy is a evil immoral bastard that wishes to destroy America as a developed nation.

 

How in the living fuck can anyone ever vote for such an evil son of a bitch is beyond me.

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The Senate Health Care Bill Would Give Millions to Drug Companies Accused of Helping Fuel the Opioid Crisis

 

https://www.american...-opioid-crisis/

 

Extract:

 

 

In May, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine ® announced that he was suing five major drug producers for downplaying the risks of the opioids they produce and thereby contributing to the opioid epidemic. Similar suits have been filed in Missouri, Mississippi, and Tennessee, and a bipartisan group of state attorneys general are currently investigating the role that the marketing and sale of opioids by various drug companies has played in creating and sustaining the opioid crisis.

 

Yet despite the concerns raised by states, the Senate’s health care bill, the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA), would provide billions of dollars in tax breaks to drug companies—including some of the very same companies that are being sued over their potential contribution to the opioid crisis. Worse, these giveaways will be paid for by stripping people of their health care coverage and driving up costs for those suffering from the opioid epidemic.

 

…. In 2015, 2 million people had a substance use disorder involving prescription pain relievers, and there were more than 17,500 overdose deaths related to these drugs. And abuse of prescription drugs can also lead to abuse of other opioids such as heroin. By one estimate, more Americans died of drug overdoses in 2016 than in the entirety of the Vietnam War.

 

The Ohio attorney general argues that fraudulent behavior by pharmaceutical companies is fueling the epidemic. In filing (its)…suit against opioid producers…. Attorney General DeWine accused them of “borrowing a page from Big Tobacco’s playbook” and seeking to conceal the true extent of the risk from their products. In the suit brought by Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley ® against Endo, Purdue Pharma, and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Hawley accused the manufacturers of having “fraudulently misrepresented the risks posed by the drugs that they manufacture and sell, misleading both doctors and consumers.”

 

In discussing the bipartisan, multistate investigation into opioid manufacturers, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro (D) stated, “The people peddling the drugs ripping apart our towns aren’t only on our street corners. Three out of four heroin users started by abusing prescription opioids, and our ongoing investigation is going straight into the boardrooms of pharmaceutical companies.” 

[caltrek]

Wasn't quite sure where to put this article.  Since it seems to focus primarily on Republicans in the Senate, I think this is probably the most appropriate thread.

 

 

Senator Explains GOP Disarray

 

http://nymag.com/dai...ump-to-win.html

 

Extract:

 

Sen. Patrick J. Toomey offered a simple, remarkable explanation this week for why Republicans have struggled so mightily to find a way to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

 

“Look, I didn’t expect Donald Trump to win, I think most of my colleagues didn’t, so we didn’t expect to be in this situation,” the Pennsylvania Republican said Wednesday night during a meeting with voters hosted by four ABC affiliates across his state.

 

According to the Washington Post’s Paul Kane, this is almost certainly whycongressional Republicans agreed upon a “repeal and delay” strategy for dealing with Obamacare soon after the election: They had no real clue how to do anything else. But the lack of advance planning has also been evident in the inability of Republicans in the Executive and Legislative branches to reach any kind of agreement on how to proceed with other very basic agenda items — also achievable without Democratic votes — like “tax reform” and the federal budget. And the disarray extends beyond the legislative process:

 

Perhaps nowhere did the surprise factor of Trump’s victory show its impact more than in the effort to fill top jobs inside the administration. Clinton’s campaign, fully expecting victory, was stocked with hundreds of volunteer advisers who were already angling for sub-Cabinet-level posts in key agencies including the departments of State, Justice and Defense. Many of them were current or former senior staff to congressional Democrats.

 

But with Republicans, those connections were rare because few believed them to be worth the effort. 

 

Pennsylvania senator Pat Toomey lets a big scary cat out of the bag: Republicans didn’t plan for 2017 because they figured they’d be dealing with another Democratic president.

 Photo: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call,Inc.

[caltrek]

Democrats Land a Surprisingly Strong Candidate for Senate in Utah Against GOP Incumbent Orrin Hatch

 

 

https://www.dailykos...ent-Orrin-Hatch

 

Introduction:

 

Utah is one of the most Republican states in the country, but Democrats just landed a surprisingly legit candidate against longtime GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch on Monday when Salt Lake County Councilwoman Jenny Wilson kicked off her campaign. Wilson is currently serving in her second six-year tenure on the county council, having won election to a countywide seat in 2012 and 2004. Salt Lake County covers about one-third of Utah’s population, meaning Wilson may already start out with some decent name recognition. She’s is also the daughter of former Salt Lake City Mayor Ted Wilson, who unsuccessfully ran for this seat against Hatch himself way back in 1982.

 

While Wilson gives Democrats a credible contender, merely calling this race a daunting challenge would be an understatement. Utah favored Trump just 45-27 over Clinton, but the 21 percent voting for conservative independent Evan McMullin largely consisted of anti-Trump Republicans who had no problem backing the GOP downballot last year. Hatch hasn’t had a close election battle since his initial victory over Democratic then-incumbent Frank Moss in 1976, and he’s likely a heavy favorite over any Democrat next year.

 

However, Wilson may be counting on this becoming an open seat, since the 83-year-old Hatch has been deliberately non-committal about whether he will even seek another term next year. Hatch most recently said he intends to run, but just as with his past statements, he has an annoying habit of leaving wiggle room for the possibility of a retirement. While scant polls are available on Trump’s approval rating in the Beehive State, it’s possible that he has still struggled to win over disaffected Mormon Republicans. Wilson’s entry into the race at least gives Democrats a chance here if the stars align for Team Blue in 2018.

 

Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch ®

[caltrek]

I have decided to narrow the focus of this thread to just covering emerging races and not wider issues involving the Senate.  Hopefully, the news reports I posted earlier about the health care debate will demonstrate how important control of the Senate will be in formulating future policies. This time, it is Maine's turn to receive some coverage.  Who knows, by the time of the next election I may be back in Maine voting for King, or perhaps a Green party candidate if King looks like a sure win.

 

Governor Paul LePage May Seek U.S. Senate Seat After All

 

 

 

AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage said he may jump into the U.S. Senate race after all.

 

Speaking to a Portland radio station Thursday morning, the governor said he’s getting pressure to reconsider his decision to steer clear of the 2018 contest.

 

U.S. Sen. Angus King, a first-term Maine independent, has only one challenger to his re-election bid so far, Republican state Sen. Eric Brakey of Auburn.

 

LePage said Brakey is “a great guy and a good person,” but his campaign hasn’t yet caught hold with voters.

 

If Brakey “doesn’t start resonating pretty quick” with the public, LePage said, he may change his mind and jump into the race after all.

 

 

 

Governor Lepage

Buy Photo

 

 

"Senator LePage."  What a nightmare that would be.