WASHINGTON (AP) – Republicans made a final push Tuesday for at least six new Senate seats, banking on voter discontent with President Barack Obama to hand them the Senate majority for the first time in eight years.
Democrats hoped a strong voter-turnout operation would minimize their losses on an unfriendly campaign landscape. They were defending seats in seven states that Obama lost, several by landslide margins.
Republicans, not content to stop there, hungrily eyed three other states – Colorado, Iowa and New Hampshire – where the president’s once-solid popularity has sagged.
Democrats privately said they hoped to limit their net losses to five seats, which would barely keep them in control. But even that would require them to win several races Tuesday where they were struggling.
The GOP seemed certain to pick up three seats where Democratic senators are retiring: in West Virginia, South Dakota and Montana.