Looking to 2018: Democrats in Danger

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2018 US Senate Election Map

Typically, midterm elections bring congressional reinforcements for the party that is not in the White House. 2018, however, is not showing much promise for Democrats. Coming off of a general election that underperformed expectations, the Democrats are heading towards the midterm elections with much lower prospects.

In fact, many experts are predicting that Democrats will have their hands full defending the seats they currently hold, not to mention going after Republican-held seats in solid-red states.

Currently, the Democrats are outnumbered in the Senate 51-48, and in the House of Representatives with an overwhelming Republican lead of 239-192. Barring an unprecedented sweep in the House races, which would involve retaining 192 seats while flipping 47 Republican seats, it seems that the best chance for Democrats is to retake control of the Senate.

In 2018, there will be 25 Democratic Senate seats up for re-election, 8 Republican seats, and 2 independent seats. Democrats would need a net increase of 3 seats to attain a Senate majority. To make matter worse for the Dems, based on the 2016 electoral results, 10 of the blue seats up for re-election are in states that went solid red this year: Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. If everything stays the same (which experts agree is highly unlikely), the Democrats could stand to lose 10 states instead of gaining 3, greatly increasing the Republican majority.