Chuck Schumer is nervously surveying the political map as Democrats try to hang on to their majority.
An unexpected development shook up the calculations.
Now a key Democrat left Chuck Schumer out in the cold with this public betrayal.
Republicans only need to net a gain of one seat in the Senate to oust Chuck Schumer as Majority Leader.
While more Republicans are running for re-election than Democrats, Republicans have pickup opportunities in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and New Hampshire.
That leaves Democrats looking for opportunities to pickoff Republican incumbents.
Democrats may have been able to steal a Senate seat in Alaska because of the state’s new law where the top four finishers, regardless of party, advance from the primary to the general election and there is ranked-choice voting to create an instant runoff if no candidate gets 50 percent of the vote.
RINO incumbent Lisa Murkowski is facing a primary challenge from Alaska’s Commissioner of Administration Kelly Tshibaka after Murkowski voted to impeach Donald Trump in the Democrats’ second impeachment trial.
Trump promised to campaign against Murkowski because of her impeachment betrayal.
“I will not be endorsing, under any circumstances, the failed candidate from the great State of Alaska, Lisa Murkowski,” Trump told POLITICO. “She represents her state badly and her country even worse. I do not know where other people will be next year, but I know where I will be — in Alaska campaigning against a disloyal and very bad Senator.”
A fractured race with two Republicans in the general election could have allowed Democrats to sneak through and win the seat if Murkowski’s more moderate supporters picked a conservative Democrat as their second choice.
But West Virginia Democrat Senator Joe Manchin threw a monkey wrench in Chuck Schumer’s plans by endorsing Murkowski.
“I’ve met a lot of good people in Alaska, they know when they’ve got the real deal. And they see the person that basically is bringing both sides together, trying to look for the best interest,” Manchin explained in an interview with POLITICO. “People understand that they have a person that understands Alaska and has Alaska in her blood and in every part of her veins and every morsel of her body.”
If Democrats in Alaska pick up on Manchin’s cue they will list Murkowski as their second choice and that could carry her to victory over the Democrat depending on how many Murkowski supporters list the Democrat as their second choice.
Alaska’s new voting system and the prospect of a divided Republican Party as Trump and conservatives try to oust Murkowski could throw the election into chaos.
Manchin may think that Murkowski—who voted for Joe Biden’s socialist and police-hating nominees—is the closest candidate to the Democrat Party’s ideology that can actually win in Alaska.
But that calculation could backfire if Republicans have a good night next November 8 and Democrats rue the day Manchin went rogue and helped Murkowski win.
While Murkowski is a pro-abortion, anti-Trump RINO, she will vote for Mitch McConnell to serve as Majority Leader.
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