With primary elections in the key 2026 battleground states largely complete, Democrats have emerged with several open paths to take the majority in the US Senate.
\n\nThe basic contours of the national map remain uphill for Democrats. They currently hold 47 seats in the Senate, meaning they need to flip four Republican seats and hold their current ones, including in Michigan and Georgia, which President Donald Trump won in 2024.
\n\nBut presiding over an unpopular Iran war that has dragged on for six months and resulted in high gas and grocery prices, Trump’s approval rating is now consistently below 40 percent, a historically perilous level. A Reuters/Ipsos poll has shown his approval nearing 30 percent.
\n\nThe last time a Republican president was presiding over an unpopular war and spiking gas prices with less than 40 percent approval—George W. Bush in 2006—Democrats picked up six seats and took control of the Senate.
\n\nAs a result, political strategists tell Inner Loop, there are now several states in play for Democrats beyond the four-state path of Alaska, North Carolina, Ohio, and Maine envisioned by Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer at the start of the year.
\n\nThe picture for Democratic pickups remains perhaps brightest…
Original source: https://www.wired.com/