Political Crumbs

Fifteen first-term U.S. Senators are running for reelection this cycle (excluding Illinois Republican Mark Kirk who served a shade over a month in 2010 after winning special and general elections that November). Many of these incumbents are facing grim to uncertain prospects for winning a second term and history suggests at least one will be…

Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley may be facing his most competitive reelection bid of his U.S. Senate career, but he is still favored to win a seventh term against Democratic nominee Patty Judge. Just 15 U.S. Senators have won seven terms during the direct election era including Mississippi Republican Thad Cochran in 2014. [A 16th, Wyoming…

Evan Bayh’s headline-making entrance into Indiana’s 2016 U.S. Senate race brings a familiar name back to the front page in Hoosier State politics. Bayh previously served two terms in the chamber before retiring in 2010 while his father, Birch, served three terms ending with a 7.4-point loss to Republican Dan Quayle during the Reagan Revolution…

On Monday, Donald Trump proclaimed himself the “law and order candidate” – resurrecting Richard Nixon’s 1968 campaign rhetoric. More than a century prior, the actual Law and Order Party had electoral success for a brief period in Rhode Island. Formed in the early 1840s in response to the Dorr Rebellion (a movement led by Thomas…

In the ‘cycle of the outsider,’ North Dakota Republicans got a rude – but not entirely unexpected – awakening on Tuesday when Fargo business executive Doug Burgum soundly defeated state Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem in the gubernatorial primary. Burgum beat the GOP’s long-serving, convention-endorsed establishment pick by 21.4 points and is now the strong favorite…

Sharron Angle’s loss to Congressman Joe Heck in Nevada’s Republican U.S. Senate primary on Tuesday marked her second failed bid to win a seat to the nation’s upper legislative chamber (also losing to Harry Reid in 2010’s general election). Angle lost by 42.1 points in a second place finish with 22.8 percent of the vote…

Ohio truck driver Scott Rupert has successfully filed to appear on the Ohio U.S. Senate ballot as an independent candidate this November to run against Republican incumbent Rob Portman and Democratic challenger Ted Strickland. Rupert also ran as an independent for the office in 2012 and garnered 4.6 percent of the vote in a race…

Twenty-four candidates – 14 Republicans and 10 Democrats – were on Tuesday’s U.S. Senate primary ballot in Maryland, tying the mark for the most major party hopefuls for the office in state history. The field equals the record set in 2006 when 14 Democrats and 10 Republicans vied for the open seat left by retiring…

Bernie Sanders has notched 11 primary and caucus wins during the 2016 campaign to date and plans to add to his total this weekend with Democratic caucuses being held in Alaska, Hawaii, and Washington.  Thus far Sanders’s victory tally has mostly mirrored the states won by Gary Hart 32 years ago – with the Vermont…

If Democrats face Donald Trump or Ted Cruz in November, the party is confident a victory at the top of the ticket would not only result in a good chance at taking back the U.S. Senate but also making notable gains in the House of Representatives. Since the U.S. House reached 435 members in the…