Democrats see path to Senate majority in 2018 [View all]

[DonViejo]

The odds remain long for a takeover, but Republicans are still growing concerned.

By SEUNG MIN KIM and BURGESS EVERETT 10/10/2017 05:01 AM EDT

Something remarkable is happening in the halls of the Capitol: talk of a serious fight for the Senate majority next year.

Senate Democrats, once all but resigned to staying in the minority until at least 2020, say the door to retaking the chamber in next year’s midterms has cracked — just barely — if everything breaks their way. And instead of boasting about how many more seats they’re about to pick up, Republicans are now pondering the once-unthinkable possibility of losing the Senate, and with it, the ability to confirm President Donald Trump’s nominees.

While Republicans have been locked in bruising internal battles all year, legislatively and in GOP primaries, Senate Democrats in recent days scored a prized recruit in Arizona and saw a Republican titan in Tennessee, Bob Corker, retire. Public polls in the Alabama Senate race have shown Democrat Doug Jones within single digits of bomb-throwing Republican Roy Moore — forcing national Democrats to wrestle with whether to spend money in one of the most conservative states in the nation.

Democratic senators are loath to boast too publicly about their recent spate of political fortune. But they’re starting to see a path, however narrow, that hadn’t existed before. “The map feels a little different today than it did a few weeks ago,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). “We might be playing a little more offense. At the same time, we don’t have a lot of bandwidth for offense given the defense we have to play.”

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http://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/10/democrats-senate-majority-2018-path-243533