Is there any democrat who could defeat Cruz in 2018?

[Attorney General & PPT Dwarven Dragon]

I'm thinking no, given midterm turnout patterns. Gallego might make it close, but I don't think he'd actually take the plunge.

[Attorney General & PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Lol at Gallego (who just lost in a district far less Republican than the state as a whole) being mentioned as a candidate.

Cornyn won the district by 20, Abbott by 15, Gallego lost by only 2. That's some serious crossover appeal. But I doubt it's enough to allow him to actually win a statewide race.

[Attorney General & PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Realistically, unless 2016 ends up being a Democratic tsunami, Democrats will not control the Senate in 2019.

This. As much as I like Heitkamp, McCaskill, Donnelly, and Tester, I realize that they likely won't survive 2018. And if the republicans can find someone competent to challenge Brown in OH, he'll be gone as well. And then there's Nelson, Kaine, Casey, Baldwin, Stabenow, Cantwell, and Heinrich at various levels of vulnerability. If Klobuchar retires, her seat will have some vulnerability as well.

For the democrats, Nevada is the only realistic pickup. Arizona is not realistic in a midterm unless Sinema runs.

[Attorney General & PPT Dwarven Dragon]

^ I think it was more than luck.

Agreed. She was a former Attorney General going up against a sitting Congressman who outspent her in North Dakota, but she still won. She also didn't have a strong Libertarian candidate like Tester, or a rape-gaffe-prone Republican emerge from a primary like McCaskill or Donnelly. 2018 will be a midterm, but now she'll be an incumbent.

Miles's comment was referring to McCaskill, not to Heitkamp.

[Attorney General & PPT Dwarven Dragon]

I'm thinking no, given midterm turnout patterns. Gallego might make it close, but I don't think he'd actually take the plunge.

President Cruz won't be running for senate re-election in 2018.

Jon Huntsman has a better chance of becoming president than Cruz.