Easy Ways to Help in the 2018 Senate Mid Terms

Also see: Supporting Women in 2018’s Tossup House Races

Basics

The U.S. Senate consists of 51 Republicans and 49 Democrats (which includes 2 liberal independents). The Vice President (Mike Pence, Republican) can cast tie breaking votes, tipping the Senate further Republican.

For the Nov 6, 2018 mid-term elections there are 26 Democratic controlled seats on the line, and 9 Republican. The Democrats have more potential for loss than gain.

Democrat control of the Senate will effectively block Trump’s major initiatives for the next 2 years. It will also set up the next President to have a clear path towards undoing damage and effecting greater change. To win, Democrats need an overall net gain of 2 seats. The chances of this are slim, but possible with enough action from people like us.

How You Can Help

Money, campaign volunteering, and social media support are your main options. Here is a short list of Democratic candidates you can support that are in tossup elections. I recommend choosing one or two that appeal to you. Donate $5 or more at their website, volunteer to make some phone calls, or remind your friends in those states to vote for them. Every little bit helps. Your voice is important.

Candidates

Terminology primer. Challenger means a Republican holds this seat but the Democratic challenger has a chance to take it. Incumbent means the Democrat currently holds the seat but is at risk of losing it to a Republican challenger. Chance to Win is based on current polling aggregates from FiveThirtyEight.com at the time of this writing (Sept 14 2018).

Heidi Heitkamp

State: North Dakota
Status: Incumbent
Opponent: Kevin Cramer
Chance to Win: 3 in 5
Website: https://heidifornorthdakota.com/
Twitter: @SenatorHeitkamp

Beto O’Rourke

State: Texas
Status: Challenger
Opponent: Ted Cruz
Chance to Win: 1 in 3
Website: https://betofortexas.com/
Twitter: @RepBetoORourke

Claire McCaskill

State: Missouri
Status: Incumbent
Opponent: Josh Hawley
Chance to Win: 5 in 7
Website: https://clairemccaskill.com/
Twitter: @clairecmc

Jacky Rosen

State: Nevada
Status: Challenger
Opponent: Dean Heller
Chance to Win: 3 in 5
Website: https://www.rosenfornevada.com/
Twitter: @RosenforNevada

Kyrsten Sinema

State: Arizona
Status: Neither. Current senator not seeking re-election.
Opponent: Martha McSally
Chance to Win: 2 in 3
Website: https://kyrstensinema.com/
Twitter: @kyrstensinema

Bill Nelson

State: Florida
Status: Incumbent
Opponent: Rick Scott
Chance to Win: 4 in 7
Website: https://www.nelsonforsenate.com/
Twitter: @SenBillNelson

Phil Bredesen

State: Tennessee
Status: Neither. Current senator not seeking re-election.
Opponent: Marsha Blackburn
Chance to Win: 3 in 10
Website: https://www.bredesen.com/
Twitter: @PhilBredesen

** Special Note on this election. Please consider doing additional research on Marsha Blackburn. While a Republican, if elected she would be the first woman to win the seat in Tennessee. Party politics aside, that is still a victory for women in power. How that weighs in your desire to stop Trump’s agenda is up to you.

Additional Reading & Information

To quickly view a timeline of all of the above candidates tweets, here is a Twitter list.

This compilation of information only covers tossups in the Senate. For the House of Representatives, please see my followup guide here. Other useful primers:

This guide was inspired by a post by Alexandra Scott, inspired by Celeste Pewter. Information in this guide was compiled from the resources at 270ToWin.com and FiveThirtyEight.com. Additional information pulled from the websites and twitter accounts posted above. Featured image via Wikimedia Commons.

If I’ve missed or misrepresented anything, please feel free to let me know on Mastodon or Twitter.

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