Senate Republicans fear 'brutal' 2028 map could keep Dems in power for years to come
The aftershocks of last week's midterm elections are still being felt by Senate Republicans, but another political reality is beginning to set in: The GOP may not regain control of the chamber for years to come.
Key points
- Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, acknowledged that the map to reclaim the majority in 2028 is "very tough." Democrats only have three incumbents up for re-election in battleground states, while Republicans have to defend seats in a slew of once-safe, deep-red states, including both Carolinas, Kansas and Iowa, among several others.
- Steve Daines, R-Mont., who chaired the National Republican Senatorial Committee during the 2024 campaign, when Republicans flipped the Senate, compared the situation to getting down early in a baseball game: Republicans would have to "chip away" at Democrats’ lead, but it would take time.
- Thune shared the anecdote of how when he first arrived in the Senate in 2005, Republicans had clinched a 55-seat majority — "the high watermark for Republicans in the Senate, historically," he told Fox News Digital.
Moreno, when asked to sketch a 30,000-foot view of what the future fight for power would look like, told Fox News Digital that Republicans had "dealt with tough situations before." "Look, it is an absolutely brutal map, but, politics, things change pretty quickly," Moreno said.
Additional details
- But the next election cycle’s map in 2028 is tough, perhaps even insurmountable, for Republicans to conquer.
- "We were very bullish about getting to 60 for the first time and having a filibuster-proof majority for the first time ever for Republicans in the Senate in 2006," Thune said.
- We [will] make certain that we hold our incumbents and our candidates accountable, and we're gonna make an appeal to donors as to how we should win." SENATE GOP REBELS MOVE TO DELAY LEADERSHIP VOTE, DEMAND RECKONING AFTER MIDTERM DISASTER Others were less optimistic.
- SENATE GOP REBELLION FIZZLES AS THUNE KEEPS POWER DESPITE HISTORIC MIDTERM MASSACRE But history has a way of repeating itself.
- "And by 2006, we were back in the minority." "The map matters for sure, but the mood of the country also really matters," he continued.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
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