Senators who were DOA?

[Tekken_Guy]

Which of these Senate incumbents were DOA, who never had a chance at re-election?

[Gracile]

Begich is the only one I can see a case for not being completely DOA from the start.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Lincoln. Pyror, Landrieu , Kirk, Heitkamp, Donnelly.


Scott Brown could have won if 2012 went badly for Obama(and at this time in the 2012 cycle that was very possible), Begich wins if 2014 wasnt such as GOP wave , and McCaskill wins if not for the Kavanugh hearings .


All but Begich though were DOA by October of election year

[BP🌹]

None

[Mr. Smith]

All but Begich and Air Claire.

Begich did quite a good job, but simply was on the wrong side of a wave.

But Claire totally could've pulled through against Hawley if she hadn't sold out the base so terribly.

[Frenchrepublican]

All of them except Begich

[BP🌹]

I don't believe that DOA is a thing. For example, last year. Donnelly, Heitkamp, and McCaskill all could've won. They could have ran much better campaigns. Donnelly could have faced one of the two Republican congressman instead of Braun, and Heitkamp Campbell instead of Cramer. The environment could've been even better for Dems. Most importantly, the Kavanaugh debacle could've not happened.

[TrendsareUsuallyReal]

All except Begich. McCaskill and Donnelly could have won in an alternate universe against weaker Republicans, but pretty much had no realistic way to beat Hawley and Braun in hindsight

[BP🌹]

I don't believe that DOA is a thing. For example, last year. Donnelly, Heitkamp, and McCaskill all could've won. They could have ran much better campaigns. Donnelly could have faced one of the two Republican congressman instead of Braun, and Heitkamp Campbell instead of Cramer. The environment could've been even better for Dems. Most importantly, the Kavanaugh debacle could've not happened.

Within their control, though? Yeah, probably all except Begich.

[Xing]

All of them except Begich

[coolface1572]

It depends if we take the challenger into account.

Scott Brown was not DOA. He had a serious chance as a moderate incumbent.

Blanche Lincoln was DOA with Boozman but could have beaten a weaker republican.

Pryor was DOA (went from unopposed to a crushing defeat in just 6 years)

Landrieu was DOA against Cassidy. Hard to say if against all republicans

Begich was not DOA. He could have won.

Kirk was DOA against Duckworth and most other democrats.

Heitkamp was DOA the second Cramer entered the race. Probably against most others as well.

Donnelly DOA against Bruan, but not any republican

Mccaskill was DOA against Hawley but might have had a chance against a weaker republican

[MT Treasurer]

All of them except Begich, Landrieu, and Heitkamp

[Del Tachi]

Only Kirk, a lot of the others' weaknesses were only apparent in retrospect. 

[😥]

Lincoln, Landrieu, Kirk, Heitkamp

[jamestroll]

I don't think that any of the 2018 Democrats were DOA. All three ran really, really bad campaigns against strong, well-funded opponents - and still won roughly 45% of the vote each. Yes, 2018 was a good year for Democrats at the national level, but the "wave" didn't reach everywhere.

Democrats could win any one of these seats again with a decent candidate, a strong campaign, and a favorable national environment.

The Obama-era southern Dems on the other hand... I'm not sure that anything short of setting themselves up for party switches years in advance would have prevented those losses. Only a Roy Moore level candidate could make these seats competitive again in the immediate future.

I absolutely agree with you.

Of the three (ND, IN and MO) I would think Missouri would be the most likely to elect a Democratic Senator. McCaskill also had the issue of being very unpopular.

Geography hurts Democrats in Missouri but it can also help. It could be pretty efficient to run a metro based campaign and be able to earn a statewide majority. (STL, KC, Columbia and Springfield).

I do not believe we cold win North Dakota any time for the foreseeable future. I feel like Heitkamp got unlucky with Kavanaugh and also screwed up her own campaign.