Election Roundup: Race to the finish line!

by Andrew Surabian
Political Director

Alaska
Last week Tea Party Express announced our endorsement of Dan Sullivan for U.S. Senate in Alaska. Sullivan is challenging incumbent Democrat Sen. Mark Begich and recent polls show a neck and neck race between the two, although it would seem as though Sullivan has the slight advantage. Tea Party Express also announced the launch of a statewide radio advertisement blitz featuring 2010 Republican nominee for U.S. Senate Joe Miller. In the ad, Miller goes after Begich for supporting President Obama’s policies 97% of the time, as well as for his support for Obamacare. You can listen to the ad which is currently running statewide, here.

Iowa
The U.S. Senate race in Iowa between Republican Joni Ernst and Democrat Rep. Bruce Braley has been one of the most closely watched races of the cycle, with some analysts even predicting that it would be the race that decides which party controls the U.S. Senate. If the newest poll on the race is any indication, this race is going to be a barnburner until election day. A new poll released by NBC News shows Ernst with a 3 point edge over Braley, 49-46, which is within the poll’s margin of error. In fact, the Huffington Post’s average of polls shows Ernst with just a 1 point lead over Braley.

While the polls are close, Republicans did get some great news out of Iowa last week when it was announced that absentee voters between the two parties were largely even. This is important because the Democrats were counting on their supposedly superior ground game to help Braley establish a big lead in early voting as a way to blunt against the momentum of Ernst. Unfortunately for them, it doesn’t seem like that’s come to fruition.

Kentucky
Last week we told you about how the Democrat Senatorial Campaign Committee had announced that they would be pulling their resources out of Kentucky. However, it looks like they’ve changed their minds. Following a poll that showed Sen. Mitch McConnell’s lead dwindling to only 1 point over his democrat challenger, the Democrat Senatorial Campaign Committee decided to jump back into the Kentucky race with a $650,000 ad buy. Even with the race apparently tightening up, according to the Huffington Post’s average of polls, Senator McConnell still holds a 4 point lead over the Democrat Grimes.

This past week, Sen. McConnell also earned the support of one of the tea party movement’s most popular Congressmen, Rep. Thomas Massie. Congressman Massie who represents the 4th district of Kentucky is predicting a big win for Senator McConnell.

North Carolina
North Carolina has been a race where the Republican nominee, State House Speaker Thom Tillis, could not seem to get ahead of incumbent Democrat Kay Hagan, as for months Hagan led in over 10 consecutive polls and thus race was largely written off by observers. Also with a libertarian candidate siphoning off a large amount of support from Tillis, it seemed as though a Republican win in North Carolina may just have been a bridge too far. However, in the last 2 weeks momentum has shifted and Tillis may just pull off a big upset.

Recently released polls from Survey USA and NBC News both show the race between the two tied, with the Washington Post noting how the new polls could spell trouble for Sen. Hagan.

The Democrat incumbent certainly didn’t help matters when last week she decided to skip a live televised debate with Speaker Tillis. It’s been speculated by some that the reason for her decision to skip the debate was her reluctance to speak about recent charges of corruption levied against her and her husband.

Read other articles from this week’s newsletter here!
GOTV: Headed for the grand finale by Donlyn Turnbull
Interview with Kay Rivoli, National Grassroots Director for Tea Party Express by Justin Petty