In just over a month, thirty-three seats in the United States Senate are up for election. Of those, only 9 are held by Republicans, 24 are held by Democrats, many of whom are serving in red states. Some of them are in trouble. A few incumbent Republican senators are arguably in trouble like Ted Cruz in Texas.
If you are a voter in one of these 24 states, you are strongly encouraged to support your Democratic candidate! Donate $5 or more if you can to his or her campaign, but even if you can’t donate, get out there on election day and VOTE! Especially if your Democratic senator is in a red state. Even if you are in a solidly blue state, there is no reason to feel smug or secure. Your Democratic senator needs your vote!
Senators in the following states are up for election.
(Clicking the state link below will take you to a Wikipedia page about that particular election.)
- Arizona
- California
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Hawaii
- Indiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Minnesota (Special)
- Mississippi
- Mississippi (Special)
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
Here is a list of Senators who are up for re-election:
Democrats
| Baldwin, Tammy (D-WI) |
| Brown, Sherrod (D-OH) |
| Cantwell, Maria (D-WA) |
| Cardin, Benjamin L. (D-MD) |
| Carper, Thomas R. (D-DE) |
| Casey, Robert P., Jr. (D-PA) |
| Donnelly, Joe (D-IN) |
| Feinstein, Dianne (D-CA) |
| Gillibrand, Kirsten E. (D-NY) |
| Heinrich, Martin (D-NM) |
| Heitkamp, Heidi (D-ND) |
| Hirono, Mazie K. (D-HI) |
| Kaine, Tim (D-VA) |
| Klobuchar, Amy (D-MN) |
| Manchin, Joe, III (D-WV) |
| McCaskill, Claire (D-MO) |
| Menendez, Robert (D-NJ) |
| Murphy, Christopher (D-CT) |
| Nelson, Bill (D-FL) |
| Stabenow, Debbie (D-MI) |
| Tester, Jon (D-MT) |
| Warren, Elizabeth (D-MA) |
| Whitehouse, Sheldon (D-RI) |
Republicans
| Barrasso, John (R-WY) |
| Corker, Bob (R-TN) |
| Cruz, Ted (R-TX) |
| Fischer, Deb (R-NE) |
| Flake, Jeff (R-AZ) |
| Hatch, Orrin G. (R-UT) |
| Heller, Dean (R-NV) |
| Wicker, Roger F. (R-MS) |
| Independents |
| King, Angus S., Jr. (I-ME) |
| Sanders, Bernard (I-VT) |
If you watched in dismay at yesterday’s Senate Judiciary Committee’s re-convened hearing on the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh like I did, you should need little more convincing. Lindsay Graham’s angry tirade should have rung the alarm bells loudly enough.
In past months, focus has been on retaking the House of Representatives, I guess because the House is where articles of impeachment would be drawn up. But the impeachment trial is conducted in the SENATE.
Cabinet Appointments and the Mueller Investigation
Beyond that, it is the SENATE that confirms all presidential appointments: cabinet members, heads of agencies, federal district court judges, federal appellate court justices (like Kavanaugh) and U.S. Supreme Court Justices (like Gorsuch).
Without the filibuster, Trump was able to appoint the wealthiest cabinet in US history–one which has been wracked with corruption, and insider and self dealing that has done nothing for the common citizen and everything for their wealthy, big-business cronies.
Had the filibuster been in place, it would have taken 60 senators to confirm the likes of Jeff Sessions (Attorney General), Steve Mnuchin (Treasury), Ryan Zinke (Interior), Wilbur Ross (Commerce), Ben Carson (Housing and Urban Development), Rick Perry (Energy), Betsy DeVos (Education), Kirstjen Nielsen (Homeland Security), and others.
And just wait until after the midterms. You can bet that if Democrats don’t take back the Senate majority (and maybe even if they do) Trump will sack Attorney General Jeff Sessions and replace him with Lindsay Graham. If that happens, you can also bet that Special Counsel Robert Mueller will be sacked and the Russia probe, among others, will be closed down or severely limited.
If Democrats do not win a majority in the Senate, that will happen.
Court Appointments, Including the Supreme Court
Because the Senate, first during President Obama’s administration, abolished the filibuster making it easier for the president to appoint cabinet members, heads of agencies, federal district court judges, and federal appellate court justices, and then, during the Trump administration abolished the filibuster for appointing Supreme Court nominees, this administration has been packing the courts with right-wing judges who are bringing their anti-environment, anti-worker, anti-women, anti-civil rights, pro big business agenda to the courts and writing those agendas into their decisions, affecting millions of Americans.
If, by the grace of God, Democrats are able to block–or to stall until after the midterms–the confirmation of Kavinaugh to the Supreme Court, a Democratically-controlled Senate would be able to block the nomination, as well as the nominations of ultra right wing conservative judges to the lower courts.
It was apparent that Kavanaugh lacks the judicial temperament to serve on the nation’s highest court from his testimony, including his rambling, self-=serving, sniveling, poor-me, belligerent opening statement and combative and disrespectful tete-a-tete with Democratic Senators. Use this link to get the telephone numbers for your Senators to encourage them to block the nomination.
This is our time. This is our, perhaps only, chance until 2020.
In case you were wondering . . .