House. All 435 seats are up for election or re-election in 2018. It is less than two years away. All the members are listening carefully to their constituents on all the issues. We need to make sure they ALL know we are watching NOW—big time. It will affect how they vote now as well as their chances for re-election in 2018.
Senate. One third of the Senate is elected every two years. In 2018, 33 Senate seats will be at stake. All but 8 of those seats are held by Democrats or Independents and many of the Democratic seats are in States that went Republican in one or both of the last two Presidential Elections. The two independents are Bernie Sanders in Vermont and Angus King in Maine. The Republicans may challenge King for that seat.
There are 12 Democratic seats that are clearly at risk of going Republican. 2018 is an off-year election where “R”s show up at the polls and “D”s not so much. Worse yet, 10 of the democrats are going to be running uphill in states that went for Trump in 2016. The first five listed below are the most vulnerable as they are in “Red” States that voted Republican in both the 2012 and 2016 Presidential elections. The second group of five are in states that are “swing” states that voted for Trump in 2016. Poor “D” turnout in 2018 could result in their defeat like it did for Russ Feingold in 2010 in Wisconsin.
“D” Senators up in Red States that voted for Romney in 2012 and Trump in 2016
Joe Donnelly in Indiana
Claire McCaskill in Missouri
Joe Manchin in West Virginia
Heidi Heitcamp in North Dakota**
Jon Tester in Montana
“D” Senators up in “swing” States that went for Trump
Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin
Debbie Stabenow in Michigan
Bob Casey Jr. in Pennsylvania
Sherrod Brown in Ohio
Bill Nelson in Florida
“D” Senators up in Blue states at risk in 2018
Martin Heinrich in New Mexico and Tim Kaine in Virginia.
The Republicans are defending only eight Senate seats. None look particularly vulnerable yet. But Jeff Flake in AZ and Dean Heller in NV may be beatable. Some are predicting that the Republicans could pick up as many as 10 Senate seats in 2018 giving them a veto proof majority.
