US Senate Challengers raise Big Money

[lpetrich]

Next week, on July 14, Maine will have its Congressional primaries. The Senate race will be a big attraction, as it was in Kentucky. Which Democrat will challenge a prominent Republican Senator?

The Establishment favorite is Sara Gideon, currently in the Maine House of Representatives. Opposing her is progressive favorite Betsy Sweet, a "life-long activist, political organizer, small business owner and mother," and also a certain Bre Kidman, an "activist, artist, and public interest attorney."

SG is being supported by the likes of Emily's List, the League of Conservation Voters, the National Organization for Women, Planned Parenthood, and NARAL Pro-Choice America.

BS is being supported by the likes of Brand New Congress, Justice Democrats, and Our Revolution.

Betsy Sweet - Ballotpedia has this biography:

An activist and attorney, Sweet founded Moose Ridge Associates in 1990 and has served as the firm's principal ever since. Sweet describes the firm as having "promoted state legislation supporting the interests of women, people with disabilities, victims of abuse and discrimination, and the environment." The firm also provides hate crime and sexual harassment prevention workshops and organizational development consulting. Prior to founding Moose Ridge Associates, Sweet was the director of the Maine Women's Lobby and the Maine Commission for Women. In 2009, Sweet established SweetSpirit, a spiritual healing clinic.

She ran for Maine Governor in 2018, though she lost in the Democratic Primary.  2018 Maine gubernatorial election

Eight candidates competed in that primary, and the election was done with instant runoff voting. Four candidates were dropped in the first round, one candidate in the second round, Betsy Sweet in the third round, and of the two remaining in the fourth round, Janet Mills won.

 

[lpetrich]

Exclusive: Maine Senate Candidate Admits She Works As a “Medium” | David G. McAfee

Longtime activist Betsy Sweet, who just received a big endorsement from the Justice Democrats, admitted that her “Sweet Spirit” business features mediumship for grieving parents. She also tried to distance herself from the word “psychic,” and played down language used on her website and in private communications.

BS herself:

“I think when it’s colored that way, it makes it sound like I belong in a circus,” Sweet said when asked if she was a medium who could bring people messages from family members who have passed away, something she previously advertised on her site. “It’s sort of a mis… I don’t know what you think I do… I’m not a psychic. It’s hard to know what it’s actually called.”

“A little piece of my work is when people are stuck or when they request it, to just help them get in touch with what they already feel and know. That’s what that work is,” she said. “What we do, when someone has a sense or wants to connect with somebody and I get a sense, is I help them connect with the other person. So, it’s not like Whoopi Goldberg in the movie where I become that person. It’s not that.”

Back to the article.

Sweet has scrubbed the website for her business as a medium. But an archived version of her page, provided to me by citizen researcher Joshua Stephen Hawley, shows that she offered “gallery readings” in which she said she would “bring you intuitive healing messages from your loved ones and guides.”

In Sweet’s bio, she stated that she has “come to the awareness” that she “can receive messages from loved ones who have passed, and from angels and spirit guides.”

Sweet also advertised an essential oils workshop, as well as a $250-per-person event involving yoga and meditation.

Sweet’s bio further says that she “went back to school for two years and got a master’s degree in Spiritual Psychology.” Additional research shows that she claims to have received a “Master’s Degree in Spiritual Psychology and Energy Healing” at the University of Santa Monica.

From BS's Facebook page:

Sweet Spirit is an intuitive healing and coaching practice that helps you get unstuck without coming unglued! Betsy offers tools and guidance for you to access your own strength and wisdom as you access the joy that is already inside of you. Services include individual sessions for all ages, group classes, message circles, employee assistance programs, and other services structured to meet individuals and employers needs. Tools offered include guided conversation, life coaching, energy balancing, chakra reading, reikki, letting go of things that no longer serve you, mediumship and meditation.

When someone asked if she can speak to the dead, she gave this response:

I believe everyone is looking to connect with something bigger than ourselves. The work I do is I think it is no different than anyone who calls upon angels or saints as is done in all religions. I am not a psychic or anything like that, but help people access the wisdom and love they have had passed on to them.

 

[lpetrich]

Betsy Sweet proposes Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, and eliminating student debt.

Politics & Other Mistakes: The Sweet hereafter - Portland Press Herald datelined June 14, 2018

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Max Linn had a bunch of corpses sign his nominating petitions, resulting in his disqualification from the ballot. And Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Betsy Sweet claims to have regular conversations with the dearly departed.

...
Besides being a lobbyist, Sweet is also a therapist. According to her website, she offers “Tools for Joyful Living,” “Energy Balancing” and “mediumship readings.” Actually, that last one is no longer on her site, scrubbed from view sometime after she decided to run for office. But muckraker Crash Barry found it in a cache last week and spread the news around. For a mere 90 bucks, Sweet claimed to be able to put you in touch with the sort of somewhat decayed people who show up on Max Linn’s petitions.

According to the site, Sweet promises to contact “loved ones or guides” to aid in a person’s “healing and growth.”

It goes on to say, “After speaking with you for a bit about what is currently going on in your life I will ‘tune in’ and see what information is available to you. … I generally ‘see’ the person and feel their presence and then share their guidance with you. I do not ‘channel’ per se, nor do I consider myself ‘psychic’ – rather I serve as a conduit for the messages that guides and your loved ones want to get through to you.”

 

[lpetrich]

After years as a lobbyist, Betsy Sweet now runs as foe of ‘big money in politics’

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Betsy Sweet has a long money trail in Augusta, rivaling some of the most prolific and powerful lobbyists in the state.

She has brought in $762,500 to her firm, Moose Ridge Associates, since 2008, making her the 12th highest-paid lobbyist of the last decade, by Ethics Commission records. At the same time, she’s running with public funds to get the influence of big money out of politics.

That’s just one of the apparent contradictions in her campaign: She’s also a spiritual counselor and vlogger who practices alternative medicine while lobbying for groups like the Maine Primary Care Association and the American Cancer Society.

She’s a longtime Augusta lobbyist who doesn’t shy from being an “insider”; she asks to be judged by the clients she’s represented.

Most are social service agencies. Sweet has been paid to advocate for funding for mental health programs, services for elderly Mainers, environmental protection and changes to the state’s medical marijuana rules.

“I work to represent those clients and only take on clients whose mission I agree with,” Sweet said.

So as lobbyists go, she is a relatively good one. At least she isn't lobbying for the likes of the Koch brothers.

I am reminded of an interview with AOC when someone proposed a dilemma for her. Suppose some big donor completely supported what she was doing, but offered her a lot of money. I recall that she said that she'd refuse, because she doesn't want to be dependent on the whims of such a donor.

 

[lpetrich]

The Maine US-Senate primary was today, as well as the runoff for the Texas one.

In Texas, party favorite MJ Hegar will be up against John Cornyn.

In Maine, party favorite Sara Gideon will be up against Susan Collins.

The race is now Sara Gideon 70%, Betsy Sweet 23%, Bre Kidman 7%. SG has a convincing majority, and because she has a majority, the counting won't go into a second round of instant-runoff counting.

 

[lpetrich]

Senate Democrats’ Machine Spent $15 Million To Destroy Progressive Primary Candidates - Too Much Information - "The Democratic establishment has successfully blocked progressive Senate candidates in primaries, with the help of labor unions, Wall Street tycoons and corporate interests."

While the DSCC’s chair, Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, said last year the party would support progressive incumbent Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey if he faced a primary challenger, he hasn’t seen any outside help yet from the DSCC or SMP in his tough battle with Rep. Joseph Kennedy III.

But they helped John Hickenlooper against Andrew Romanoff.

Overall, the top donor to SMP so far this cycle has been Democracy PAC -- a super PAC that’s bankrolled by billionaire George Soros and the Fund for Policy Reform, a nonprofit funded by Soros. Democracy PAC has contributed $8.5 million to SMP.

Other donors from the financial industry include: Renaissance Technologies founder and billionaire Jim Simons ($3.5 million) and billionaire D. E. Shaw & Co. founder David Shaw ($1 million).

Some major donors have financial stakes in current and future legislation.

For instance: SMP received a $1 million donation from billionaire Jonathan Gray, an executive at Blackstone, which owns the hospital staffing chain, TeamHealth. SMP also received $2 million from the Greater New York Hospital Association.

Even though many right-wingers consider George Soros a left-wing ogre. They praise rich people as morally-superior capitalist Stakhanovites, yet they never acknowledge that in their making him out to be a great villain. They never ask how someone so supposedly morally upstanding could support the depravity that he supports.

SMP is affiliated with Majority Forward, a dark money group focused on attacking Republican Senate candidates. Majority Forward received $450,000 in 2018 from pharmacy giant CVS Health -- which also owns health insurer Aetna. The group also received $300,000 from the American Health Care Association (AHCA), a trade association that represents the nursing home industry.

The Democratic primary candidates backed by the DSCC have expressed reservations about Medicare for All, arguing they believe people should be allowed to keep their private health insurance if they want it. Many of the DSCC’s favored candidates do support creating a public health insurance option.

• NC: Cal Cunningham vs. progressive Erica Smith
• IA: Theresa Greenfield vs. progressive Kimberly Graham
• ME: Sara Gideon vs. progressive Betsy Sweet

 

[lpetrich]

‘Adapt immediately or find a new job’: Senate GOP confronts fundraising emergency - POLITICO - "Democrats' online fundraising has again caught fire, giving them a boost in November's fight for the Senate majority."

Last month, the National Republican Senatorial Committee prepared a slideshow for Senate chiefs of staff full of bleak numbers about the party's failure to compete with Democrats on digital fundraising. For anyone not getting the message, the final slide hammered home the possible end result: a freight train bearing down on a man standing on the tracks.

Like Democrats' site ActBlue. Republicans' answer to it is a site called WinRed.

Democratic Senate campaigns have outraised Republicans in small-dollar donations (under $200) in 10 of the 12 most competitive races, according to a review of the most recent Federal Election Commission reports, which this week are due for an update covering the second quarter. Already, many Democratic campaigns have announced that they raised massive sums in the last three months, while few Republicans have tipped their hands. Unitemized donations also represented a higher percentage of individual receipts for Democrats in every competitive race featuring a GOP senator.

...
Over the last decade, Republicans have lagged behind Democrats in online fundraising. But the 2018 election clarified the problem like never before, when Democratic challengers swamped their opponents in online cash and flipped the House. Now, the same pattern is materializing again in 2020, in both the House and the Senate.

According to what conservatives like to tell other people, all their misfortunes are self-inflicted, the result of bad decisions that they had made. Yet they refuse to accept that for themselves.

 

[lpetrich]

Democrats ride ‘green wave’ as they try to capture Senate majority | Fox News

“The green wave of fundraising that helped Democrats take back the House in 2018 is now a tsunami of cash in Senate races for Democrats that could clear the way for them to flip the Senate in November,” said Jessica Taylor, who closely tracks the Senate races for the Cook Report, a leading non-partisan political handicapper.

...
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee communications director Lauren Passalacqua touted that “Democrats have posted impressive fundraising all cycle, and this quarter’s record-breaking numbers reflect a continued surge in small-dollar grassroots support for flipping the Senate and an unprecedented motivation to hold Republicans in Washington accountable.”

...
“These fundraising numbers should be a stark wake up call for Republican donors. If you don’t want higher taxes, government health care and the green new deal, now is the time to step up even more because the situation is serious and control of the Senate is up for grabs,” said Walsh, a former NRSC communications director and former senior adviser to GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas and a veteran of numerous Senate, congressional and gubernatorial campaigns.

Numbers are from fec.gov since the Fox News article was sketchy about the numbers. The numbers are total raised / cash on hand.

• AZ: D Mark Kelly vs. R Inc Martha McSally -- $44 M / $24 M vs. $28 M / $11 M
• CO: D John Hickenlooper vs. R Inc Cory Gardner -- $14 M / $5 M vs. $17 M / $11 M
• MT: D Steve Bullock vs. R Inc Steve Daines -- $11 M / $8 M vs. $13 M / $7 M
• ME: D Sara Gideon vs. R Inc Susan Collins -- $24 M / $5 M vs. $17 M / $6 M
• IA: D Theresa Greenfield vs. R Inc Joni Ernst -- $12 M / $6 M vs. $15 M / $9 M
• NC: D Cal Cunningham vs. R Inc Thom Tillis -- $15 M / $7 M vs. $14 M / $7 M
• GA: D Jon Ossoff vs. R Inc David Purdue -- $7 M / $3 M vs. $15 M / $11 M
• KY: D Amy McGrath vs. R Inc Mitch McConnell -- $47 M / $16 M vs. $38 M / $17 M
• SC: D Jaime Harrison vs. R Inc Lindsey Graham -- $29 M / $10 M vs. $31 M / $15 M
• MS: D Mike Espy vs. R Inc Cindy Hyde-Smith -- $1.4 M / $0.7 M vs. $2.1 M / $1.2 M
• MI: D Inc Gary Peters vs. R John James -- $21 M / $12 M vs. $20 M / $9 M
• AL: D Inc Doug Jones vs. R Tommy Tuberville -- $14 M / $9 M vs. $4.1 M / $0.6 M

 

[lpetrich]

As pandemic limits scrutiny, GOP fears lesser-known Democratic candidates will steamroll to Senate majority - The Washington Post
Some of them have been demanding debates, a common tactic of challengers, and something that incumbents usually try to avoid.

• Joni Ernst R-IA: 6 debates, starting in August
• Thom Tillis R-NC: 5 debates, he wanted to start in the spring
• Susan Collins R-ME: 16 debates, one in every Maine county, starting immediately

But they view this as a matter of necessity in a campaign in which Republicans are running into the head winds of President Trump’s sagging poll numbers amid his stumbling response to the coronavirus pandemic.

And the pandemic has limited campaign activities that are normal for a big Senate race, activities such as state fairs, beach walks and large church services — and without those staples, there are fewer chances for candidates to make mistakes.

...
“The more voters see their candidates, the worse off they are. This is a very weak crop of recruits,” said Jesse Hunt, spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Democrats point to Tommy Tuberville. He refused to debate primary opponent Jeff Sessions, and he refuses to debate general-election opponent Doug Jones.

Instead, Democrats say their candidates are focused on the right issue at the right moment — protecting and enhancing health care during a pandemic — as GOP incumbents adopt the tactics traditionally deployed by losing candidates.

...
This Democratic crop largely comes from two sets of traditional candidates favored by Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.): older former governors or ex-senators who already have high name recognition and fundraising history and lesser-known state officials who will execute their campaigns along the lines of DSCC mandates.

In 2016, they campaigned much like Hillary Clinton, and some of them joined her in losing. But Biden polls much higher than Clinton did, and he and these Senate candidates have a much higher chance of winning.

Cunningham and Gideon are raising eye-popping amounts of money for their campaigns. Cunningham, a Bronze Star recipient from tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, has raised more than $15 million in his challenge to Tillis, while Gideon has raised more than $24 million.

Neither has even run a statewide race before.

Republicans are hoping that they can make their opponents look silly.

They have to compete for dwindling space in local news outlets, and in national news media with coronavirus coverage.

Within hours of winning her nomination, Gideon made the first offer: five debates. Collins demanded 16 and accused her Democratic rival of hiding from voters. “I look forward to an open and accessible discussion with you about the future of our state and nation,” Collins wrote to Gideon.

Gideon told reporters that Collins was the one in hiding.

“We have traveled around Maine for the past 13 months. We have heard over and over again from people who have said they have not seen Senator Collins in a forum where they are able to ask her questions,” Gideon said.

 

[lpetrich]

McConnell signal to Republican Senate candidates: Distance from Trump if necessary - CNNPolitics

Sen. Mitch McConnell is allowing Republican Senate candidates to do whatever it takes to salvage their campaigns ahead of what Republicans increasingly fear could be a devastating election for their party.

In recent weeks, the Senate majority leader has become so concerned over Republicans losing control of the Senate that he has signaled to vulnerable GOP senators in tough races that they could distance themselves from the President if they feel it is necessary, according to multiple senior Republicans including a source close to McConnell.

...
While this may give some senators the flexibility to draw a distinction between themselves and the President, it also forces them to walk a tightrope. Trump remains enormously popular with the Republican base, and any attempts to undercut him risks alienating those voters.

They cooked their goose by enabling him so much.

Among vulnerable R Senators are Martha McSally AZ, Thom Tillis NC, Cory Gardner CO, Susan Collins ME, Joni Ernst IA, Steve Daines MT, and maybe also Dan Sullivan AK.

There are a few signs Republicans are already beginning to differentiate themselves in subtle ways from Trump. Publicly, McConnell has embraced and promoted mask-wearing as the "single most important thing" people can do -- days and weeks before Trump finally tweeted his support for mask-wearing. A new Collins ad shows a photo of her surrounded by Democratic colleagues as she claims to be "bipartisan" and "effective" for Maine, while Gardner has emphasized his environmental conservation bona fides.

Republican moneybags are directing their attention towards Senate races.

In June, GOP megadonors Sheldon and Miriam Adelson donated $25 million to McConnell's Senate Leadership Fund, giving the super PAC $97 million in the bank at the end of the second quarter. (During the same period, the Democratic counterpart to SLF, Senate Majority PAC, raised $30 million and by the end of June had $87 million in cash.)

But some Republicans are less than confident.

One senior Republican who spoke to CNN was more distraught about where Trump has put the party fewer than 100 days before the election. "Where can we play offense? Zero places," said this Republican. "Where is he playing defense? All the places he shouldn't have to worry about."

 

[lpetrich]

RealClearPolitics - 2020 - Senate Election Polls

AZ-SEN -- R to D
GA-SEN -- R hold
GA-SEN Special -- R hold
IA-SEN -- tossup
ME-SEN -- R to D
MI-SEN -- D hold
MT-SEN -- tossup
NC-SEN -- R to D
NH-SEN -- D hold
SC-SEN -- R hold
TX-SEN -- R hold

So AZ, ME, and NC have a good chance of going Democratic this November.

 

[lpetrich]

Protect Robert Mueller on Twitter: "BREAKING: In the latest poll of the U.S. Senate race in Maine, Democratic Maine Speaker of the House is leading GOP Senator Susan Collins by 8 points!
RETWEET if you support Speaker Gideon as she runs to beat Collins and take back the U.S. Senate from Mitch McConnell! https://t.co/9fki4BckXN" / Twitter

SYDNEY on Twitter: "@DisavowTrump20 @SaraGideon If I were a Maine resident, I'd vote for a potted plant over Susan Collins. She screwed us all when she voted to have Brett Kavanaugh become a member of our nations' Supreme Court. We cannot and will not forget this !!!! https://t.co/lUN5r8tUfC" / Twitter

RealClearPolitics - Election 2020 - Maine Senate - Collins vs. Gideon - a larger margin that most of the recent polls listed: 4 - 5%

RealClearPolitics - Election 2020 - Arizona Senate - McSally vs. Kelly - MK is ahead of MMS by 5 to 11%

RealClearPolitics - Election 2020 - North Carolina Senate - Tillis vs. Cunningham - CC is ahead of TT by 2 to 9%

RealClearPolitics - Election 2020 - Colorado Senate - Gardner vs. Hickenlooper - no recent polls

RealClearPolitics - Election 2020 - Montana Senate - Daines vs. Bullock - mixed

RealClearPolitics - Election 2020 - Iowa Senate - Ernst vs. Greenfield - mixed

 

[lpetrich]

Yashar Ali on Twitter: "Arizona Senator @MarthaMcSally, who is down five points in the polls vs @CaptMarkKelly, suggests to her supporters that they “fast a meal” and give her campaign the money that they saved from fasting. https://t.co/MrH2DXax8d" / Twitter

"We're doing our part to catch up, you know to get our message out. But it takes resources. So, anybody can give, I'm not ashamed to ask, to invest. If you can give a dollar, five dollars, if you can fast a meal and give what that would be."

 

[lpetrich]

Susan Collins faces battle of lifetime in Maine | TheHill

Collins for years has struck an independent voice in a state where a majority of voters have repeatedly picked Democrats to lead the country. But in an increasingly polarized political climate, there are real questions about whether she can survive this year’s contest.

Gideon and Democrats argue that far from being an independent voice, Collins has been loyal to President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) when it most counted, such as on the Kavanaugh vote.

No recent polls of that race, however.

 

[lpetrich]

Democrats Take Aim At Susan Collins’ Lobbyist Husband As Maine Race Heats Up | HuffPost - "The senator backed policies that benefited her husband’s consulting business. Republicans target Sara Gideon’s husband in attack ads, too."

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) pushed and voted for policies that benefited her husband’s consulting and lobbying business, positions Democrats are set to attack in what is quickly becoming one of the most contentious and expensive Senate races in the country.

...
“Collins’ husband, a former lobbyist, profited off the opioid crisis,” the male narrator says in an ad from Duty and Honor, a Democratic nonprofit controlled by allies of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

“She tried to raise her taxes, but her family didn’t pay their own taxes on time,” a female narrator says in an ad slamming Gideon, referring to tax liens levied against a condo project her husband invested in. The ad is from 1820 PAC, a super PAC whose largest donors are ultra-wealthy Wall Street executives.

...
Democrats are ready to take direct aim at Collins’ husband, Thomas Daffron, a longtime Republican operative who served as a chief of staff to three senators and spent the end of his career as the chief operating officer of Jefferson Consulting Group, a lobbying and consulting firm. The company received nearly $60 million worth of government contracts from 2006 to 2016, when Daffron retired.

...
But a layer of bipartisanship is unlikely to stop Democratic attacks: An ad from another Schumer-backed group, airing now in Maine, criticizes Collins for her authorship of a law that is now blamed for causing massive financial problems at the U.S. Postal Service. The law passed with overwhelming majorities in both chambers of Congress, but the group links Collins’ support to the $200,000 worth of donations from private delivery companies.

“Money changes everything, even Susan Collins,” the narrator says at the end of the ad.

The idea that Collins has shifted from a common-sense centrist to a hack for business and right-wing interest groups has been a central argument in Democratic attacks ads in the race, and Gideon’s allies are almost certain to mine Daffron’s career for nuggets to use against Collins.

 

[lpetrich]

Susan Collins refuses to endorse Trump because she's 'in a difficult race'

Collins trails Democrat Susan Gideon by 4 points in the latest Maine Senate poll.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said Tuesday that she would not choose sides in the 2020 presidential race because of her own "difficult race."

Last week Collins, who is serving her fourth term in the Senate, told reporters that she would not endorse Donald Trump's reelection — or speak against him — because she is also running for reelection in November. She noted that "in parts of the state President Trump is very popular, in parts of the state he's very unpopular."

During an appearance on CNN on Tuesday, she said, "I have a difficult race. And I am concentrating my efforts on that race."

So she's trying to sit on the fence. Let's see what that gets her. Her responses to Trump nastiness have been horribly lame, a lot of handwringing, like hoping that he's learned his lesson. But he hasn't.

 

[lpetrich]

Maine U.S. Senate Debate | C-SPAN.org - "Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) and U.S. Senate candidates Sara Gideon (D-ME), Max Linn (I-ME) and Lisa Savage (I-ME) participated in a televised debate. NEWS CENTER Maine, Bangor Daily News and The Portland Press Herald sponsored the event."

Max Linn was very determined to promote his website, at the expense of answering the moderators' questions, and the moderators had to cut him off more than once.

Lisa Savage was firmly in support of Medicare for All, while Sara Gideon was only in support of improving access, more like improving Obamacare than enacting M4A. LS stated that ranked-choice voting can be helpful for her, because one can make her one's first preference and SG one's second preference. But SG did not acknowledge RCV or that implicit endorsement.

Susan Collins was rather evasive about who she endorsed for President, saying that the voters of Maine won't need her help.

 

[lpetrich]

With 50 Days Until the Election, These Eight GOP Senators Are in Danger of Losing Their Seats

They are: AZ Martha McSally, CO Cory Gardner, GA David Perdue (normal election) & Kelly Loeffler (special election), ME Susan Collins, NC Thom Tillis, MT Steve Daines, IA Joni Ernst.

The Cook Political report rates AZ as a likely win for Democrat Mark Kelly and all the rest as tossups except for the GA special election. A Republican is likely to win that one, even if not KL herself.

In Kentucky, where Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is campaigning for his seventh consecutive term in office, forecasts indicate he'll win over Democratic candidate Amy McGrath. The race remains one to watch, given the growing momentum of McGrath's campaign and McConnell's standing as one of the nation's most unpopular senators, according to polling. The fact that few published polls concern the outcome of Kentucky's Senate race is also worth noting.

Unseating Mitch McConnell would be a sight to see.

 

[lpetrich]

2020 Senate Race ratings | The Cook Political Report

It's only 34 seats because the Senate's elections are staggered. Class I in year 6n+2, II in 6n+4, III in 6n (6n+6). It's the Class II seats that are up for election this year.

Democrats:

• Solid D: DE-Coons, IL-Durbin, MA-Markey, MN-Smith, NH-Shaheen, NJ-Booker, NM-Open, OR-Merkley, RI-Reed, VA-Warner
• Lean D: MI-Peters
• Lean R: AL-Jones

Republicans:

• Lean D: AZ-McSally
• Tossup: CO-Gardner, GA-Perdue, IA-Ernst, ME-Collins, MT-Daines, NC-Tillis
• Lean R: GA-Loeffler, KS-Open, SC-Graham
• Likely R: AK-Sullivan, KY-McConnell, TX-Cornyn
• Strong R: AR-Cotton, ID-Risch, LA-Cassidy, MS-Hyde-Smith, NE-Sasse, OK-Inhofe, SD-Rounds, TN-Open, WV-Moore Capito, WY-Open

Challenging Shelley Moore Capito of WV's Class II seat is Paula Jean Swearengin, one of the stars of the documentary "Knock Down The House". She had run in 2018, failing in her attempt to primary Democrat Joe Manchin of WV's Class I seat.

 

[lpetrich]

The Cook Political Report also has a report on the House: 2020 House Race ratings | The Cook Political Report

• Strong D: 190 -- D 190
• Likely D: 17 -- D 15, R 2
• Lean D: 14 -- D 12, R 2
• Tossup: 28 -- D 16, R 12
• Lean R: 14 -- R 13, I 1
• Likely R: 18 -- R 18
• Strong R: 154 -- R 154