The Democrats won’t be picking up a Senate seat in Tennessee. When Sen. Bob Corker retired, there was plenty of talk that the Dems would claim this seat. They recruited Phil Bredesen, who was a fairly popular governor and somewhat sensible guy, to run. The Republicans were going to nominate Rep. Marsha Blackburn whom the Democrats thought they could paint as an extremist.
Early polls had Bredesen in the lead. However, my very good source in Tennessee told me Blackburn would likely win, so I wasn’t too worried.
Eventually, the polls shifted in Blackburn’s favor, but they remained close enough that, if a Blue Wave truly occurred, it might sweep Bredesen to victory.
There is no Blue Wave and will be no Bredesen victory. The race has been declared in favor of Blackburn.
NOR WILL BETO O”ROURKE PREVAIL. Texas has been called for Ted Cruz. O’Rourke was ahead for much of the night, but Cruz never appeared to be in serious trouble given where the counted votes were from.
We’ll see whether O’Rourke made a close race out of it. If so, it will be one of the few Senate races in which the Dem outperformed expectations. But when you consider all of the money O’Rourke raised and spent, it won’t be easy for Dems to take much consolation from anything other than a victory or a very narrow defeat.
But they can take consolation from House pick-ups in Texas, a few of which seem likely. Was there a “Beto effect” in those races?
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