Surging Democrats expand Senate targets to GOP states
It's come to this for Republicans straining to defend their Senate majority in November's elections: They're air-dropping millions of dollars into races in
Alabama, Kentucky and other red states where Donald Trump coasted during his 2016 presidential election triumph....
And while it's early and well-known senators can differentiate themselves from an unpopular president atop their ticket, Democrats are defending just 12 Senate seats this November to Republicans' 23. The GOP controls the Senate 53-47....
Democrats have at least a puncher’s chance of grabbing Republican-held seats in four states Trump won by double digits: Alaska, Kansas,
Kentucky and South Carolina. They have an even shot at ousting GOP Sen. Steve Daines in Montana, which Trump carried by 20 percentage points, and long-shot hopes of retaining their most endangered senator,
Doug Jones of Alabama, where Trump won by 28 points.
Republican incumbents face legitimate challenges for
two Senate seats in Georgia and difficult fights in Arizona and
North Carolina, all where Trump won narrowly. In two states Trump won by 9 points, Iowa GOP Sen. Joni Ernst faces a tough Democratic opponent in businesswoman Theresa Greenfield, while Republican Sen. John Cornyn is on alert against a Texas upset....
Although dollars don't always translate into votes, campaign reports filed this week show surging Democratic fundraising in solidly Republican terrain.
Jones' $18 million haul in
Alabama more than quadruples the amount raised by his Republican opponent, Tommy Tuberville, a former Auburn football coach. That's prompted One Nation, a group allied with McConnell, to line up $3.2 million on ads helping Tuberville, with the conservative Club for Growth planning $1.3 million more....
The two McConnell-friendly groups are even aiming $15 million at
Kentucky to help him fend off an uphill challenge from Democrat Amy McGrath. The $47 million she has raised so far, aided by Democratic contributors' antipathy to McConnell's work with Trump, is tops in the country and surpasses McConnell's $38 million.
Even in
Kansas, which hasn't elected a Democratic senator since before World War II, a group with ties to state and national Republicans plans to spend $3 million to prevent the polarizing
Kris Kobach from winning the party's Senate nomination. Top Republicans fear a Kobach nomination could mean victory for Democrat Barbara Bollier, who's collected more cash than the three GOP contenders combined.
The two McConnell-allied groups are preparing to spend $22 million to help GOP Sen. David Perdue against Democrat Ossoff in
Georgia, where Republican advantages among suburban voters have eroded. An expensive battle is brewing over Ernst's Iowa seat, with outside Democratic and GOP groups each planning to spend over $20 million.
Other robust Democratic fundraisers include Mark Kelly in Arizona and
Jaime Harrison in South Carolina. Kelly has a solid chance of defeating GOP Sen. Martha McSally while Harrison is waging an unlikely drive to
oust Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close Trump ally....
Republicans are eyeing Alaska, where GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan's likely opponent is Al Gross, an independent with Democratic support. The sprawling state is difficult to poll and populated by notoriously free-spirited voters, and Gross, a doctor, has already spent $700,000 of his own money on his campaign.
Scott Kendall, a Republican consultant, predicted Sullivan will win. But, he cautioned,
2020 is “the weirdest year any of us have seen.” 
Less than a month for revised planning.