General Discussion

This page lists all the Senate seats being elected in 2026.

https://www.senate.gov/senators/Class_II.htm

Right now there are 47 Democrats and 53 Republicans in the Senate. The spread between what we have and what we need to flush out the entire Trump Administration is 20, and there happen to be exactly 20 Republican seats up for election this year.

Of the twenty, we have a chance in four of those races: Maine is always a possibility, and seven GOP senators have announced they're not running. Here are the three I think we can get.

1. Kentucky. There are two reasons I'm going for Kentucky winding up with a Democrat in Mitch McConnell's chair. First, Kentucky WILL vote for Democrats if they're really good. Take a look at their governor, Andy Beshear. Not only did they elect him (and increase the spread between he and the GOP candidate when he ran for reelection), they also elected his father Steve before him. The other reason is that Donald Trump has totally fucked over the bourbon industry, which is one of the biggest drivers of economic growth in Kentucky.

2. Montana. Montana is a big part of the American Redoubt movement, which is James Wesley Rawles' scheme to turn Eastern Washington, North Idaho and Montana into right-wing shitholes by moving all the right-wingers in California into them. However, Redoubters are a definite minority in Montana - and those people are doing shit native Montanans do not like, such as trying to sell off Montana's considerable inventory of public lands...which would eliminate the federal "PILT" (payment in lieu of taxes) payments that actually fund the state government. Montana has elected Democrats before - one of the best governors of the past 50 years, Brian Schweitzer, is a Democrat - and I believe they can find it within themselves to do it again.

3. North Carolina. Seven of North Carolina's counties - Cumberland, Harnett, Robeson and Hoke (Fort Bragg/Liberty), Onslow (Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune and Marine Corps Air Station New River), Craven (Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point) and Wayne (Seymour Johnson Air Force Base) - have economies HIGHLY dependent on the Orange Menace NOT shipping their troops off to fight unprovoked wars. Duplin, Sampson and Robeson Counties (Robeson appears twice for a reason) are the center of the chicken and hog industries in the state, which are being affected by Trump screwing up the international trade in pork and poultry and driving up food prices, making their products unaffordable to many Americans. Lee County has two manufacturers that are heavily affected by Trump's economy and trade policies: Caterpillar, which makes skid steers and compact loaders in Sanford, and Coty, which is America's biggest manufacturer of cosmetics, perfumes and skin care products. Moore County, where Pinehurst and Southern Pines - known as the Home of American Golf - are heavily dependent on tourism, and a lot of people who used to go there to golf can't afford to travel for golf vacations now. Thirteen of North Carolina's counties - Chatham, Durham, Franklin, Granville, Harnett, Johnston, Lee, Nash, Orange, Person, Vance, Wake, and Wilson, which comprise the Research Triangle metropolis - are heavily affected by Trump screwing up international trade...and the fact that the Triangle holds the largest concentration of pharmaceutical manufacturers in the US sure isn't helping things any either, especially with RFK Junior running the department that regulates what they make. Seven additional counties - Mecklenburg, Cabarrus, Gaston, Union, Iredell, Rowan and Lincoln, which are the North Carolina side of the state border in the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia Metropolitan Statistical Area - are heavily affected by Trump's torturing of the economy because several big banks are headquartered there. Trump's actions are also screwing up this MSA's most famous industry, which is NASCAR. And...those are the places the majority of North Carolina actually lives. In essence, if you had to pick a state that's been hit hardest by Trump's malfeasance this is the one. A Democrat with a "I can fix this" message should be very appealing.