In February, Democrats began getting anxious about the crucial Senate race in North Carolina. An unknown Republican-affiliated group was suddenly pouring millions of dollars behind the candidacy of Erica Smith, a progressive state senator who they believed had no chance of winning the seat in November.

So party leaders began spending millions of their own to bolster Cal Cunningham, a military veteran they had endorsed months earlier whom they saw as their best chance to defeat a vulnerable incumbent Republican, Sen. Thom Tillis. With significant party help, Cunningham prevailed and is now in a strong position against Tillis, making him one of 14 candidates endorsed early by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee who either froze out their opposition entirely or won their primaries.

Democrats took some heat for playing early favorites, including for passing over Black candidates like Smith, Charles Booker in Kentucky and Royce West in Texas, although they endorsed five candidates of color. But the strategy has paid off. With the general election field essentially set and the heart of the campaign season beginning, Democrats, riding public dissatisfaction with President Donald Trump’s handling of the pandemic, now find themselves with a solid chance to take control of the Senate next year.

Although Democrats did not get the Republican opponent they wanted in Kansas, polls show Democratic contenders are ahead or running even with incumbents in at least seven states, with the potential to bring even more into play. They need a net gain of only three seats to take the majority should former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive nominee, win the White House — four if he does not.

Along with the pandemic, Biden’s candidacy has expanded the playing field for Democrats by depriving Republicans of some of the anti-socialist message they intended to employ had Bernie Sanders been the nominee.







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