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| Brett Kavanaugh being sworn in as a Supreme Court Justice |
In about a month, on Tuesday, November 6, Americans will go to the polls to elect members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, as well as state governors and legislators. I see the U.S. Senate races as the most crucial. If Democrats can gain a Senate majority, what happened with the Kavanaugh nomination can't recur, since all U.S. Supreme Court nominees must gain the votes of a majority of U.S. Senators or their nominations are defeated.
Right now, there are 51 Republican members of the U.S. Senate. The Democrats (including two Independents who caucus with them) number 49. If the Democrats can pick up just two more seats, they will hold a Senate majority.
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Real Clear Politics is a website that tries to project election winners based on current polling. Take a look at this Real Clear Politics (RCP) Senate map. As of today, Monday, October 8, it shows that seven of this year's Senate races are presently considered tossups:
- AZ: Open (R)
- FL: Nelson (D)
- IN: Donnelly (D)
- MO: McCaskill (D)
- MT: Tester (D)
- NV: Heller (R)
- TN: Open (R)
Four of the tossup races have Democratic incumbents: Nelson of Florida; Donnelly of Indiana; McCaskill of Missouri; and Tester of Montana. Two now have GOP incumbents who occupy "open" seats with no incumbent running in 2018: Arizona and Tennessee. And one of the tossups has a Republican incumbent who is running again: Heller of Nevada.
If Democrats Nelson, Donnelly, McCaskill, and Tester all win re-election, and if two of the three tossup states that now are "open" or have a GOP incumbent switch to electing a Democrat, the likelihood is that there would be 49 Republicans in the new Senate and 51 Democrats or Independents who vote Democratic. In other words, we Democrats are now just two seats away from controlling a majority of the seats in the U.S. Senate.
Yesterday I decided to put my money where my mouth is. I donated $10 to each of the Democrats running for the Senate in the seven RCP tossup states.
To be quite precise, I also donated $10 to the Democratic opponent of Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz: a man whose name is Beto O'Rourke. As of yesterday, the Cruz-O'Rourke race was considered a tossup, though today it's listed as leaning toward Cruz. Furthermore, I donated $10 to Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat whose race in North Dakota was until very recently categorized as a tossup.
How did I accomplish my donations? Simple. Each race listed on the Real Clear Politics page has a clickable link. Click on it, and you'll see a page devoted to the Senate race in that particular state. Each candidate has a photo on the page under which there's a link to his or her campaign site. For example, in the Montana Senate race, Democrat Jon Tester's campaign site is here.
Each campaign site contains a prominently displayed link with a title such as "Contribute" or "Donate." That's what you click on. You'll then see a page that allows you to specify a credit card and an amount. As you make your contribution, keep firmly in mind that you do not have to sign up to join any particular political organization, and you do not need make your contribution more than just a one-time gift.
Political contributions of this type are not tax-deductible, by the way. But I'm hoping you'll agree with me that they are an excellent way to help make the country more small-d democratic ... and also a fine way to help make it more Big-D Democratic!
If you hope for a Democratic "blue wave" election in 2018, as do I, I encourage you to do as I just did: pick out whichever Senate candidates whose races you consider the most crucial this year, and in each case "give 'em $10"!
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