Introduction to the 2012 Senate Races

There are 23 Democratic Senate seats up for election this year and only 10 Republican seats. Furthermore, of the ten retirements announced so far, seven are Democrats (counting Joe Lieberman as a Democrat here) while only three Republicans are retiring. The Democratic seats in Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Virginia, and Wisconsin are all going to be very competitive and the Republicans could easily pick up some of them. The Democrats have a shot in Arizona, but the Republican running there is the favorite. In Maine, an independent is running and is the overwhelming favorite. If he decides to caucus with the Democrats, like his independent neighbor, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), that is a likely pickup for the Democrats. All in all, this means the Democrats will have to fight very hard to hang onto the Senate, which they now control 53-47.

The Democratic-held seats are listed first below, in alphabetical order by state, with the Republican ones following.

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For a graph showing the predicted 113th Senate daily from January 2012 until today, click here.

Democratic-held seats

California

Incumbent Challenger Notes Polls

Dianne

Feinstein

(D)

Elizabeth

Emken

(R) Dianne Feinstein (DiFi to her many admirers) won her last Senate race by 25 points. This time the margin will be even bigger. In 2010, the Republicans had a very strong (read: extremely wealthy) Senate candidate (Carly Fiorina) and the Democrat, Barbara Boxer, still won by 10 points. Emken, a totally unknown autism activist, came in second, with 12% of the vote, in California's new jungle primary, beating Orly Taitz, the queen of the birthers, and a host of even lesser-known candidates. With no money, no issue, and no name recognition in a very blue state, running against one of the best-known politicians in the state, Emken will go down in flames.

Connecticut

Challenger Challenger Notes Polls

Chris

Murphy

(D)

Linda

McMahon

(R) Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) lost the Democratic primary in 2006 but ran as an independent and won, largely because the Republicans put up such an awful candidate that most of the Republicans in the state voted for Lieberman. That will not happen in 2012. Many Connecticut Democrats truly hate Lieberman for not accepting the will of the voters, so he would almost certainly go down to defeat in 2012. To prevent being embarrassed, he is retiring. Both parties are going to have nasty primaries this time. Rep. Chris Murphy (D-CT) and former Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz will go after each other in the Democratic primary, while 2010 multimillionaire candidate Linda McMahon will take on former representative Chris Shays in the Republican one. McMahon is way ahead in the Republican primary and Murphy is way ahead in the Democratic primary, so they are likely to face each other in November.

Delaware

Incumbent Challenger Notes Polls

Tom

Carper

(D)

Kevin

Wade

(R) Delaware is a reliably Democratic state and Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) is well known and popular. Delaware Republicans were spared the embarrassment of another Christine "I am not a witch" O'Donnell run when self-funding businessman Kevin Wade filed to run. He has no chance of winning, but at least this will be a normal race focusing on taxes and other issues rather than on the personality of the Republican nominee as it was in 2010.

Florida

Incumbent Challenger Notes Polls

Bill

Nelson

(D)

Connie

McGillicuddy

(R) Florida is the mother of all swing states and will be bitterly fought over in 2012 as usual. With Mitt Romney as the expected Republican nominee, it could be a very close race. In 2006, Nelson faced the deeply flawed and highly unpopular Katherine Harris. This time a slew of candidates are going after the nomination and a lot depends on how bloody the primary is and who wins it. The Republicans' best hope is Rep. Connie Mack IV (R-FL), and initial polling shows that he is way ahead. Unless something shakes up the primary, it will probably be Connie Mack, whose real name is Cornelius McGillicuddy IV. A wildcard here is the Republican nominee for Veep. If it is Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), that will help the Republican senatorial nominee.

Hawaii

Challenger Challenger Notes Polls

Maizie

Hirono

(D)

Linda

Lingle

(R) With the retirement of Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI) next year, Hawaii has a rare open Senate seat. The Democrats had a nasty primary between Rep.Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and former representative Ed Case. Hirono won, in part because she is a Japanese American in a state where there are many Japanese Americans. Her general election opponent is a bit of an oddity--a twice-divorced Republican female Jew who served two terms as governor in this very blue state. Hirono has to be regarded as the favorite. In any event, the winner will be Hawaii's first female senator. As an added attraction, these two have met before. They ran against each other for governor in 2002 Lingle won that one but is the underdog this time.

Maryland

Incumbent Challenger Notes Polls

Ben

Cardin

(D)

Dan

Bongino

(R) Maryland is a reliably Democratic state that Ben Cardin won by 10 points over former Lt. Gov. (later RNC chairman) Michael Steele. Cardin is so safe, that no serious Republican even bothered to get the nomination, even though it was available just by asking. Ultimately, Dan Bongino, a former Secret Service agent got the nod. Cardin will win in a landslide.

Michigan

Incumbent Challenger Notes Polls

Debbie

Stabenow

(D)

Peter

Hoekstra

(R) Michigan has the highest unemployment in the country and a lot depends on who the voters choose to blame. If they feel it is Obama's fault, Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) will be in big trouble. But if Obama pushes his jobs bill hard and the congressional Republicans gleefully kill it, their brand could become quite toxic in the state giving Stabenow an easy victory. Also, the bailout of the car companies, much derided in other states, is highly popular here and Stabenow is surely going to claim credit for it. The most likely Republican is Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI).

Minnesota

Incumbent Challenger Notes Polls

Amy

Klobuchar

(D)

Kurt

Bills

(R) Although Minnesota is fundamentally a blue state (the last Republican presidential candidate to carry the state was Richard Nixon in 1972), Republicans do win senatorial and gubernatorial elections fairly regularly. If the Republicans had a strong candidate, they might be able to give one-term senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) a good scare at least, but they don't so they won't.

Missouri

Incumbent Challenger Notes Polls

Claire

McCaskill

(D)

Todd

Akin

(R) Missouri is perennially a swing state that Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) barely won in 2006. She is definitely in the fight of her life this time. In fact, Missouri is probably the Republicans' third best shot at a Senate pickup (after North Dakota and Nebraska). Her one advantage here is that the Republicans understand her vulnerability very well, so there was a bruising three-way primary won by Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO). McCaskill actually ran ads supporting him because she thinks he is too conservative to win the general election.

Montana

Incumbent Challenger Notes Polls

Jon

Tester

(D)

Denny

Rehberg

(R) Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) narrowly won in 2006 against an incumbent senator, Conrad Burns, but one fond of making outrageous statements. This time Tester will go up against the state's only congressman, Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT), who has better mouth control and has won statewide races since 1990. It is likely to be a close race.

Nebraska

Challenger Challenger Notes Polls

Bob

Kerrey

(D)

Deb

Fischer

(R) In case anyone was wondering why Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) has been such a gigantic pain in the tush to the Democrats for the last two years, the reason should now be clear: he had to win an election in an extremely red state in 2012. After much agonizing, he finally decided having to constantly fight both parties wasn't worth it, so he will retire at the end of his term. After much begging, the national Democratic Party convinced former Nebraska governor and senator, Bob Kerrey, to go for another hurrah. The Republican establishment settled on Attorney General Jon Bruning, but he was defeated by state senator Deb Fischer, who is supported by the tea party. As a result, we may see a competitive general election here.

New Jersey

Incumbent Challenger Notes Polls

Bob

Menendez

(D)

Joseph

Kyrillos

(R) Although New Jersey elects Republican governors fairly regularly, like other states in the Northeast, it is largely a Democratic bastion and Sen. Bob Menendez shouldn't have too much trouble getting reelected, especially since the Republicans do not have a top-tier opponent. The most likely Republican is state senator Joseph Kyrillos, who is close to Gov. Chris Christie, but he first has to win a primary and then will be hit hard by Menendez' $8 million war chest.

New Mexico

Challenger Challenger Notes Polls

Martin

Heinrich

(D)

Heather

Wilson

(R) The surprise retirement of Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) means that the Republicans have a shot at winning a seat in this increasingly blue state. However, neither party had an obvious candidate, so there was competitive primaries in both parties. Rep. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) defeated state auditor Hector Balderas in the Democratic primary and will face former representative Heather Wilson (R) in November. Wilson ran for the Senate in 2008, but lost the primary election to congressman Steve Pearce, who went on to lose the general election to Democrat Tom Udall.

New York

Incumbent Challenger Notes Polls

Kirsten

Gillibrand

(D)

Wendy

Long

(R) Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) was appointed to Hillary Clinton's seat when she was named Secretary of State. At first, many on the left were very negative about her as a result of her voting record in the House when she represented a rural district near Albany. But after joining the Senate, she moved sharply to the left, saying her job was to represent her constituents and now she represented a lot more of them. The voters bought that and she won a special election in 2010 with ease. Wendy Long, a tea party supporter, won the Republican primary. She doesn't have a prayer against Gillibrand in the general election.

North Dakota

Challenger Challenger Notes Polls

Heidi

Heitkamp

(D)

Rick

Berg

(R) With the unexpected retirement of Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), the Democrats are going to be hard pressed to keep this seat, no matter who wins the Republican primary. Rep. Rick Berg (R-ND) has already won statewide here and shouldn't have any trouble doing that again if he is the nominee, which is likely.

Ohio

Incumbent Challenger Notes Polls

Sherrod

Brown

(D)

Josh

Mandel

(R) Ohio is perennially a swing state at all levels but Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) is a tough campaigner who unseated an incumbent Republican senator, Mike DeWine, in 2006. The Republicans are running 33-year-old state Treasurer Josh Mandel, a proven fundraiser. But the unions' victory in repealing the law limiting collective bargaining for state employees will help Brown since he strongly favored repeal and is popular in union households.

Pennsylvania

Incumbent Challenger Notes Polls

Bob

Casey

(D)

Tom

Smith

(R) Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) is a Blue Dog Democrat (opposes abortion, etc.) so it will not be easy for the Republicans to label him as "too liberal." James Carville once described Pennsylvania as: "Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with Alabama in between." Casey is just liberal enough that he is tolerated in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and just conservative enough that he is tolerated in between. Wealthy coal executive Tom Smith spent $5 million of his own money to capture the Republican senatorial nomination. However, in the general election with President Obama on top of the ticket, a high turnout is expected in Philadelphia and Pittsburg and this may be enough to help Casey to a second term.

Rhode Island

Incumbent Challenger Notes Polls

Sheldon

Whitehouse

(D)

Barry

Hinckley

(R) Rhode Island is a heavily Democratic state so Sheldon Whitehouse will win reelection easily. In fact, he is so safe that no serious Republican even bothered to file for the election. A young software entrepreneur was the only candidate so he got the nomination by default, but it hardly matters.

Vermont

Incumbent Challenger Notes Polls

Bernie

Sanders

(I)

John

MacGovern

(R) Bernie Sanders is the only openly socialist member of Congress, but he is immensely popular in Vermont and will win in a walk. Although technically Sanders is an independent, he caucuses with the Democrats and they won't run anyone against him, leading to the odd situation of no Democrat running for the Senate in a very blue state. Although the Republicans are not going to waste any money on this race, a rich businessman, John MacGovern, filed for the nomination and got it. Unlike nearly all other rich businessmen who try for high office, MacGovern has actually held elected office before--four terms in the Massachusetts state house before he moved to Vermont. But despite this experience, he has no chance against Sanders.

Virginia

Challenger Challenger Notes Polls

Tim

Kaine

(D)

George

Allen

(R) Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) won a real squeaker against George "Macaca" Allen in 2006 and probably could have beaten him again this time, but decided that politics isn't so much fun after all. Since Allen, a former senator and former governor of the commonwealth, is the likely Republican nominee, the Democrats had to find a serious candidate quickly. They settled on Obama's handpicked DNC chairman, former Virginia governor Tim Kaine. Kaine is well liked in the state and a lot will depend on how well Obama does in the state, which he carried in 2008. Virginia has become a purple state, largely due to an influx of northerners in the counties close to D.C., and both the presidential and senatorial races are expected to be close.

Washington

Incumbent Challenger Notes Polls

Maria

Cantwell

(D)

Candidate

unknown

(R) Washington is becoming an increasingly blue state and unless the Republicans can come up with a top-tier candidate, Maria Cantwell will probably be relected, albeit by a modest margin rather than a landslide. Possible Republicans include representatives Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Dave Reichert, but they are far from certain candidates.

West Virginia

Incumbent Challenger Notes Polls

Joe

Manchin

(D)

John

Raese

(R) Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) won a special election to replace the late Sen. Robert Byrd (to the extent anyone can replace the legendary Byrd) but now he is running for a full term. Before he was senator, he was an immensely popular governor. He has crossed swords with the Obama administration enough times that the Republicans will have a tough time tying him closely to the President, who is not popular in West Virginia. The Republican nominee is John Raese, a candidate whose occupation is running for statewide office in West Virginia. He has done so in 1984, 1988, 2006, 2008, and 2010 with no success. After it became known that his wife is registered to vote in Florida, where he actually lives and where their children go to school, any possibility that he might win in this reddish state evaporated.

Wisconsin

Challenger Challenger Notes Polls

Tammy

Baldwin

(D)

Tommy

Thompson

(R) The Democrats were hit by a double whammy here. On the one hand, their well-entrenched, extremely wealthy, popular incumbent, Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI) decided to retire at 76, even though he could have been easily elected to the Senate another two or three times if he lived long enough. To make this worse, their strongest candidate by far, former senator Russ Feingold, decided not to run for his seat, even though he would have been the odds-on favorite. Ultimately the Democrats found a nominee in Rep. Tammy Baldwin, who if elected would be the first open lesbian in the Senate. The Republicans had a nasty four-way primary won by former four-term governor Tommy Thompson. In any event, Kohl's retirement turned a sure-fire Democratic hold into a pitched battle.

Republican-held seats

Arizona

Challenger Challenger Notes Polls

Jeff

Flake

(R)

Richard

Carmona

(D) The Republican nominee is Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ). If she hadn't been shot, Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ) would probably have run for the open Senate seat here, but she decided to resign from Congress and not run for the Senate. Consequently, the Democrats looked elsewhere, and came up with Richard Carmona, a former Surgeon General. As a Latino in a state with a growing Latino population and a Vietnam veteran, he might give Flake a serious challenge.

Indiana

Challenger Challenger Notes Polls

Richard

Mourdock

(R)

Joe

Donnelly

(D) In a nasty primary, state Treasurer Richard Mourdock, a tea-party favorite, defeated six-term incumbent Richard Lugar for the right to face Rep. Joe Donnelly (D-IN) in November. Republicans are fearing and Democrats are hoping that this race will be a repeat of the 2010 Senate races in Colorado, Delaware, and Nevada, in which tea party candidates upset the establishment favorites in the primaries only to go down to defeat in the general election. Indiana is normally a red state, but Democrats Birch Bayh and his son Evan Bayh served a total of five terms in the Senate representing Indiana, so this will be a competitive race. Mourdock will try to appeal to conservatives while Donnelly will say he is more interested in solving problems for the people of Indiana than he is in ideological purity.

Maine

Challenger Challenger Challenger Notes Polls

Charlie

Summers

(R)

Cynthia

Dill

(D)

Angus

King

(I) With Olympia Snowe's sudden retirement, this seat suddenly became the the Democrat's #1 pickup opportunity. When former Democrat and former governor Angus King announced he was running as an independent, it shook up the race completely and scared off all the serious Democrats who were afraid of a three-way race which would allow the Republican to eke out a win. King has refused to say who he will caucus with, but observers expect him to caucus with the Democrats, like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). As a consequence, the Democratic primary was among relatively unknown candidates, with both of the state's representatives declining to run. A key issue here is whether King, who is strongly favored to win, gives private assurances to the Democrats that he will caucus with them. If he does (even if he denies it in public), they will essentially sabotage their own candidate, Cynthia Dill, to avoid a repeat of the 2010 three-way gubernatorial race, in which an independent in the race split the vote, resulting in a tea-party Republican, Paul LePage being elected governor.

Massachusetts

Incumbent Challenger Notes Polls

Scott

Brown

(R)

Elizabeth

Warren

(D) This is the seat second most likely to flip in the Senate. Scott Brown won a special election to fill the seat of the late senator Ted Kennedy, but he had the good fortune to be running against a lazy and arrogant candidate who felt that campaigning was beneath her dignity. That won't happen again. Most likely he will face Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard professor and strong consumer rights advocate, who will pull in tons of out-of-state money and who took the lead in the polls within a month of entering the race. Still, Brown has a lot of money in the bank.

Mississippi

Incumbent Challenger Notes Polls

Roger

Wicker

(R)

Albert

Gore

(D) It is hard to imagine why a Democrat would want to run against Roger Wicker since no matter what, Wicker will win in a landslide. Nevertheless, a retired Army colonel, Albert Nottly Gore, Jr. filed for the nomination and won the primary against even lesser known candidates.

Nevada

Incumbent Challenger Notes Polls

Dean

Heller

(R)

Shelley

Berkley

(D) Dean Heller was appointed to the Senate by Gov. Brian Sandoval (R-NV) when the Republican Senate caucus basically forced John Ensign out of the race due to his long-term affair with the wife of one of his staffers followed by a very clumsy attempt to buy everyone's silence. Nevada has become a purple state which Obama carried easily in 2008 and with him on the top of the ticket again in 2012, Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV), the likely Democratic nominee, has a good shot at knocking him off. In addition, voters tend not to like appointed senators except in very red or very blue states, which Nevada is not.

Tennessee

Incumbent Challenger Notes Polls

Bob

Corker

(R)

Mark

Clayton

(D) Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) is a shoo-in for reelection as the Democratic bench in Tennessee is not deep at all. In fact, no serious politician or businessman even ran, so a totally unknown floor installer who belongs to some fringe hate groups won the primary. This should be a good test of the "yellow dog" theory of Southern politics. Back in the days of the solid (Democratic) South, it was said that the Democrats could run a yellow dog for public office and it would win.

Texas

Challenger Challenger Notes Polls

Ted

Cruz

(R)

Paul

Sadler

(D) With Sen. Kay Hutchison (R-TX) retiring, there was a nasty Republican primary between the establishment candidate, Lt. Gov. David Dewhust, and tea party favorite, Ted Cruz. Cruz won and will face an unknown Democrat, Paul Sadler, in November. Cruz is a shoo-in and is seen as a rising tea party star, along with fellow Latino, Marco Rubio.

Utah

Incumbent Challenger Notes Polls

Orrin

Hatch

(R)

Scott

Howell

(D) Winning statewide elections in Utah is something Democrats don't do very often so it is a safe bet that a Republican will be elected to the Senate in 2012. But which one? Orrin Hatch is a deeply conservative Republican, but so was Bob Bennett but that didn't save him from coming in third at the state Republican convention in 2010 and thus not even making it to the primary ballot. Hatch did better than Bennett, coming in first in the convention, but not by enough to avoid a primary with tea party favorite Dan Liljenquist. Hatch is likely to win the primary. The Democrats nominated former state senate minority leader Scott Howell, but he has no chance against Hatch and probably no chance against Liljenquist, either.

Wyoming