US Democrats nominated two women they hope will give them the rare opportunity to capture seats in the Republican-dominated South and potentially spare US President Barack Obama from spending the final two years of his presidency dealing with a Congress fully controlled by the opposition.
Michelle Nunn, chief executive of a non-profit organization, won the primary on Tuesday for the Senate seat long held by her father, Sam Nunn, and now occupied by retiring Republican Saxby Chambliss. Her opponent will be decided in a July 22 runoff between the top two finishers in a seven-candidate race.
In Kentucky, Alison Lundergan Grimes, a state official, faces a tougher challenge in taking on the Senate’s top Republican, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Both easily defeated their opponents, with McConnell fending off a challenger backed by the small-government Tea Party movement.
Photo: Reuters
Republicans, who are likely to keep control of the House of Representatives, have strong prospects for capturing the Senate in November. With roughly a third of the Senate’s 100 seats on the ballot, they need a net pickup of six seats.
Democrats have been hurt by the retirement of some of their longtime senators in states that lean Republican. Also, some Democratic senators who swept into office when Obama was first elected in 2008 are now vulnerable as they seek re-election.
Among the Republicans’ top targets is Arkansas, where Democratic Senator Mark Pryor won his party’s nomination on Tuesday. He faces Representative Tom Cotton, who won the Republican nomination.
Democrats are contending with Obama’s low popularity and the historic pattern of a president’s party generally losing seats in midterm elections. Republicans are making Obama and his troubled healthcare overhaul the focus of their campaigns.
The primaries are critical for Republicans, who saw an opportunity to win the Senate slip away in 2010 after party voters repeatedly picked candidates backed by the tea party movement. Many were too conservative or unsteady to win in the general election.
This time, Republican Party leaders and their supporters in the business community are determined to support establishment-backed conservatives in primaries against Tea Party challenges.
McConnell’s strong showing in Kentucky with about 60 percent of the Republican vote was noteworthy because that is where the Tea Party made its mark four years ago by sweeping Senator Rand Paul into office over an establishment candidate favored by McConnell.
McConnell, a five-term senator and the embodiment of the Republican establishment, said he would use his power to check Obama’s agenda.
Meanwhile Grimes, who piled up 76 percent of the vote to defeat three Democratic rivals, responded forcefully to some of the campaign barbs that have already come her way.
“I am not an empty dress. I am not a rubber stamp. And I am not a cheerleader. I am a strong Kentucky woman,” she told cheering supporters in Lexington.
In Georgia, the race for the Republican Senate nomination was fiercely expensive — US$10 million had been spent on television commercials through last week. Businessman David Perdue, who cast himself as an outsider, and Representative Jack Kingston, who drew support from the party establishment, took the top two spots, finishing ahead of several candidates favored by the Tea Party movement.
In Oregon, Monica Wehby, a physician, won the Republican nomination to oppose Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley in a race that Republican strategists hope can become more competitive as the year unfolds.
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