'The Senate’s in play': Reeling GOP faces collapse into minority status as Trump drags party down

According to a report in Rolling Stone, there is a very good chance that the Democrats could take control of the Senate after the 2020 election as the impeachment of Donald Trump casts a cloud over the Republican Party.

The report -- by longtime political observer Tim Dickinson -- states, "the fight to wrest the Senate from Republican control — and oust Mitch McConnell as majority leader — is arguably just as important" as the battle to force Trump from office.

"Unless Democrats flip the Senate, the grand plans of the presidential candidates are dead on arrival," Dickinson writes. "Capturing the chamber is just as crucial if Trump is re-elected; it would give Democrats control of the legislative agenda, budget, and judicial confirmations, ending McConnell’s reign as Trump’s rubber stamp."

With the GOP holding a three-seat edge in the Senate, 53 to 47, Dickinson explains that Republicans have their hands full defending 23 seats to the Democrats’ 12.

According to Nathan Gonzales, editor of Inside Elections, "The Senate’s in play. Democrats have enough takeover opportunities to get there without having to win everything on the table.”

"A dozen races will be vital in determining control of the Senate, including two seats where Democrats must play defense," the report goes on, with Dickinson listing off Michigan, Arizona, Maine, Colorado and North Carolina -- among others -- as key battleground states.

Of particular note, he adds, is the crown jewel -- taking the seat held by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

"Mitch McConnell’s seat in Kentucky is the holy grail. Trump took the state by 30 points in 2016, but a Democrat claimed victory in the governor’s race in November," he explained. "The senator’s approval rating in the state — 33 percent — is nearly as bad as defeated incumbent Gov. Matt Bevin’s. McConnell’s opponent, retired Lt. Col. Amy McGrath, a former F/A-18 fighter pilot, is fresh off a competitive 2018 House race and raising money like a presidential candidate — $10.7 million in the third quarter. McGrath is casting McConnell as a creature of Washington, bought by special interests, who has 'turned his back on the people of Kentucky' and failed to deliver on bread-and-butter issues from infrastructure to the opioid crisis."

You can read the entire breakdown here.