Election Roundup: What to expect on Tuesday
by Andrew Surabian
Political Director
After months and months of nonstop campaigning, we are finally just one day away from the election and there are a lot of things that tea party conservatives should keep an eye out for. First, whether or not the Republicans are able to finally take back the Senate from Harry Reid. To make that a reality, we must win 6 Senate seats tomorrow which most forecasters believe is more than doable; in fact, some are even predicting a Republican wave tomorrow, where conservatives could win upwards of 9 U.S. Senate seats.
In our opinion, the most important race tomorrow will happen in Iowa, where tea party favorite Joni Ernst is challenging liberal Democrat Bruce Braley for the open Senate seat, vacated by retiring Senator Tom Harkin. At the beginning of the election cycle, few people saw this as a winnable seat for conservatives, but the sudden rise of Joni Ernst has changed that as she heads into election day as the clear favorite. However while she is favored to pick up the seat, we should not be overconfident as this is a state that voted for President Obama 2 times in a row and up until recently was thought to be trending towards Democrats.
If Iowa goes our way, then expect a big night for conservatives in other states like Arkansas, Alaska and Colorado. In Arkansas, Rep. Tom Cotton has run a strong campaign against incumbent Sen. Mark Pryor and has led almost all of the public polling the has been released. In Alaska, conservative candidate Dan Sullivan having recently been bolstered by a radio advertisement produced by Tea Party Express featuring Joe Miller, is expected to pull out a close win against the Democrat incumbent, and lastly in Colorado, tea party conservative Rep. Cory Gardner has shocked almost all the pundits by seemingly taking the lead in the race for Senate in the Centennial state.
Outside of the races that we mentioned above, Republicans are in a great position to pick up Senate seats in Montana, North Carolina, South Dakota and West Virginia. One state where an upset looks to be brewing is in New Hampshire where former Senator Scott Brown has ran an incredibly impressive race against Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. It was only 3 months ago when no one believed that Shaheen could be beaten, however Brown has successfully managed to tie the incumbent to the unpopular President Obama, who Shaheen has voted with 99% of the time.
On top of all the action in the U.S. Senate, there are several important races on the House side of things to watch for as well. There are many tea party conservatives who are running tomorrow that are looking to join tea party heroes like Congressmen Trey Gowdy and Justin Amash in the lower chamber of Congress.
In Georgia, tea party superstar Barry Loudermilk is expected to cruise to victory in his race for Congress, while in Minnesota hard charging conservative Tom Emmer is expected to easily defeat his democrat opponent in the race to replace retiring Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann. Another race to watch out for is the race for Congress in West Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District where conservative Alex Mooney is in a tough race with his Democrat opponent. National Democrats have poured a large amount of money in to try and stop Mooney’s momentum, and it looks like the race is a toss-up going into Tuesday.
Finally, keep an eye on the 5th district of Louisiana where the nephew of Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson’s nephew, Zach Dasher, is challenging incumbent Republican Rep. Vance McAlister in the state’s jungle primary. Should he pull off a win, expect Dasher to be one of the most interesting and impressive additions to Congress in 2014.
Tomorrow should be a great day for conservatives everywhere; don’t forget to do your part and vote!