Best D recruits for the 2026 Senate elections?

[CheapDollarEra?]

Maine: I don't think Jared Golden would even win the primary. Some charismatic 'normie lib' state legislator would be a better option to support.

NC: Roy Cooper would be favored but he is old. Maybe Wiley Nickel could run.

OH: Tim Ryan would be the safest bet, sltrought I'm not sure if he could win in the suburbs.

IA: Cindy Axne?

AK: Obviousy Mary Peltola.

FL: A latin@, even if Mucarsel-Powell couldn't overperform.

KS: ??

[Spectator]

Maine: Golden’s only path to statewide office is a bid to challenge Collins. He is widely seen as one of the only people who can beat Collins, and make no mistake, Dems would coalesce behind him in the primary if he ran for that reason. In an open seat primary for Governor or Senate where the stakes of beating a Republican incumbent aren’t nearly as high, he’d be disfavored. Dems tried “normie lib from the legislature” in 2020 and Collins still easily won.

NC: Cooper is the only candidate that effectively makes this a race leaning towards Dems, so I imagine the pressure will be on. Gillibrand as the new DSCC chair has already cited him as her top recruit. 69 is still young enough to serve two terms.

AK: doubt it will be Peltola. She’s smart and knows she’s unlikely to beat an incumbent in Alaska and that her best path to continued relevance is a stint as Governor. Best move might be an Osborne-type indy run. Not an Al Gross indy/Dem hybrid.

IA: Maybe another Osborne mini-me. An Osborne-type overperformance would’ve won in Iowa this year. Sand might be smarter to go for Governor.

OH: Tim Ryan

KS: Laura Kelly. Promise to serve one term.

[coloradocowboi]

Maine: Troy Jackson. Golden won’t run against Collins and has already spread rumors about running for governor and wanting to be near his family.

North Carolina: Cooper

Kentucky: Beshear

Louisiana: Edward’s

Florida Special: nobody but back a John Morgan independent run

Ohio Special: probably Ryan. Brown is a little old and maybe should run for governor instead

Illinois (assuming Durbin retires): Underwood

Alaska: Peltola

Kansas: Kelly

Nebraska: nobody, run Osborn instead

Iowa: But I would look to the labor movement or a local family farmer. Rob Sand should run for gov

[Mr.Bakari-Sellers]

Maine: Troy Jackson. Golden won’t run against Collins and has already spread rumors about running for governor and wanting to be near his family.

North Carolina: Cooper

Kentucky: Beshear

Louisiana: Edward’s

Florida Special: nobody but back a John Morgan independent run

Ohio Special: probably Ryan. Brown is a little old and maybe should run for governor instead

Illinois (assuming Durbin retires): Underwood

Alaska: Peltola

Kansas: Kelly

Nebraska: nobody, run Osborn instead

Iowa: But I would look to the labor movement or a local family farmer. Rob Sand should run for gov

Lol Reynolds won by 30


Wiley Nickel NC
Tim Ryan.  OH

2 seats


Rob Sand IA
Whomever ME

4 seats


Wildcards

Kelly KS
Peltola AK

[The '90s' Last Champion]

Maine: Setting aside that I doubt Golden will run against his mentor, I’m going to go outside the box and nominate Aaron Frey here. He’s fairly young, he’s from northern Maine, and I think he’s a better candidate than Troy Jackson for Southern Maine resist lib ticketsplitters

Okay so with my hot takes aside

North Carolina: Cooper (duh)

Ohio: I guess Tim Ryan again, I think Brown is done with politics (maybe Ryan is too, in which case maybe Dems could run Kaptur even though she’s very old)

Iowa: I doubt Rob Sand wants to be Senator but it’s not like they have other options, maybe they could bring Cindy Axne back?

Kansas: Laura Kelly obviously

Texas: I mean like at this point you might as well try a Border Hispanic like Cuellar or Gonzalez seeing that white liberals seem energized to turn out no matter what

Florida: It has to be a Hispanic, preferably Cuban. Maybe Annete Taddeo?

Alaska: Setting aside that Peltola wants to be Governor, maybe Dems should run the Rep-Elect’s uncle again? I know he might be becoming a perennial candidate at that point, but who else do they have?

Kentucky: Andy Beshear (highly doubt he wins but if he outperforms by as much as Hogan did, he might have a shot)

Louisiana: John Bel Edwards (same logic and Cassidy might have base problems)

[Talleyrand]

State Senator Scott Kawasaki could be an interesting choice for Alaska.

[Mr.Bakari-Sellers]

Mills looks more likely to run for Sen we need someone to announce, obviously it's second tier until she announce


GA is a runoff anyways, Ossoff isn't toast

But ME, IA, OH and NC are our targets beware of investing in TX and FL, Allred lost by 9 and Powell by 13

KY is a wildcard with Andy Beshear

Marshall and the others are Safe Red

[henster]

For Maine in the likely case Golden doesn't run, I was thinking maybe Adam Cote. He came pretty close to beating Mills in the '18 Dem primary. Army veteran and small business owner who has never held elected office. I think the key to beating Collins is running a political outsider who can hammer her on being a career politician who broke her promise on term limits. Dems would be better served everywhere if they ran outsiders without voting records Republicans can pick apart.

[Spectator]

State Senator Scott Kawasaki could be an interesting choice for Alaska.

I think we’ll see him run statewide in some capacity in 2026. Peltola might snag him for LG or he runs for Senate or House. Haven’t ran the numbers presidentially, but he won by 3%, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Trump and Begich both won his seat.

[ProgressiveModerate]

For TX I might try Gutierrez. He’s a border Hispanic who seems to have appeal to both more Conservative Hispanics and liberals within the party.

[CentristRepublican]

For Ohio Special, I recall an offhanded comment Flyingmongoose made that might really be an underrated idea: run Michael Krapchik, the guy that overperformed massively the last time he was in a special election.

I get it, it was an incredibly low-turnout race - but still, he outran Biden by like 30 points in that seat. And perhaps more convincingly, in the regular election held alongside the presidential race - where Trump likely swept the district by like 45 points - Krapchik lost by only 33.

I don't expect Krapchik to win, most likely, but he may be an underrated candidate, as a political outsider (populist? i daresay) who has a record of overperforming so far. And he also has nothing to lose from a political standpoint, no office he'd need to give up to run.

Maine: Troy Jackson. Golden won’t run against Collins and has already spread rumors about running for governor and wanting to be near his family.

North Carolina: Cooper

Kentucky: Beshear

Louisiana: Edward’s

Florida Special: nobody but back a John Morgan independent run

Ohio Special: probably Ryan. Brown is a little old and maybe should run for governor instead

Illinois (assuming Durbin retires): Underwood

Alaska: Peltola

Kansas: Kelly

Nebraska: nobody, run Osborn instead

Iowa: But I would look to the labor movement or a local family farmer. Rob Sand should run for gov

What is it with this site's notion that Brown will have, or even attempt, some kind of political comeback? The writing on the wall was pretty clear. Yes Brown put up an impressive performance under the circumstances but it's indisputably clear that OH is too red now for even an institution such as Brown. And he's 72. That's not insanely old by political standards, sure, but it is quite old to be making a political comeback of any kind (before anyone cites Mike DeWine, I should point out that he made his comeback in 2010, at age 63, a full decade younger than Brown is now). Makes perfect sense to me that Brown would spend the last 5-10 years of his life in quiet retirement, honestly.

[Mr.Bakari-Sellers]

Edwards probably won't happen in LA

Tier 1 Ds are aggressively recruiting Ryan or Brown in OH AND MILLS ME Doubt if Cooper runs

Mills ME
Sand IA
Ryan OH
Nickels NC

2/4 seats

Tier 2
Wildcards
Beshear KY
Peltola AK
Who ever in TX
Who ever in FL


Ds aren't doing like last time concentrate on FL and TX solely and we lost them by 9 the same with Red states this time 2/4 seats and ME and NC are top tier because it's a 319/219 map


We may not get the majority we have WI , NC and SC in 28 if Harrison runs  in SC in 28 and Sara Rodriguez in WI and Jeff Jackson in 28

[GoldenMainer]

Aaron Frey was in a scandal a couple years back for a relationship with a married woman in his office. I'd rather avoid that baggage.

Adam Cote is a good outside the box pick. His military background would serve him well in a statewide run.

I still think Troy Jackson would be a great get. From northern Maine, a logger, and progressive connections as a former Bernie supporter which would play well in Portland.

[KakyoinMemeHouse]

NC: Roy Cooper

IA: Rob Sand

AK: Mary Peltola

LA: John Bel Edwards

KS: Laura Kelly

FL: Debbie Mucarsel-Powell

ME: Jared Golden

OH: Sherrod Brown

KY: Andy Beshear

TX: Colin Allred

[Compuzled_One]

If by best you mean strongest...Well, get ready for the Whackamole.

Maine: Jared Golden

North Carolina: Roy Cooper

Ohio: Sherrod Brown (Tim Ryan is close though)

Iowa: Rob Sand

Florida: Jared Moskowitz

Texas: Vicente Gonzalez (at the moment)

Alaska: Mary Peltola

Kansas: Laura Kelly

Montana: Jon Tester

Nebraska: N/A

Louisiana: John Bel Edward

Mississippi: Brandon Pressley

That should basically be the only remotely competative seats.

[7,052,770]

Alabama: Nick Saban. He would seriously win.

[Progressive Pessimist]

-Alaska: Peltola (even if she would rather run for Governor).
-Florida: Alan Grayson, f*** it!
-Iowa: Rob Sand.
-Kansas: Davids or Kelly.
-Maine: Golden.
-North Carolina: Cooper.
-Ohio: Brown.
-Texas: Gutierrez.

[ProgressiveModerate]

I'm not fully convinced that for races like NC-Sen, a known quantity like Cooper would be Dems best option. While he was an overperformer in both of his Governor runs, a lot of that crossover appeal can evaporate when one runs on the federal level, and he was never some sort of electoral titan. Combine that with the fact he's getting older and is a career Democrat in a time when most seem to think Democrats need to rebrand themselves, put forwards younger candidates, and generally turn the page.

I'd much rather run someone like Jeff Jackson for the seat (not sure he'd want to though).

[Spectator]

I'm not fully convinced that for races like NC-Sen, a known quantity like Cooper would be Dems best option. While he was an overperformer in both of his Governor runs, a lot of that crossover appeal can evaporate when one runs on the federal level, and he was never some sort of electoral titan. Combine that with the fact he's getting older and is a career Democrat in a time when most seem to think Democrats need to rebrand themselves, put forwards younger candidates, and generally turn the page.

I'd much rather run someone like Jeff Jackson for the seat (not sure he'd want to though).

Jackson is widely assumed to be going for the 2028 seat instead. Two years into his AG term would look too opportunistic. Sure, it worked for Hawley, but he underperformed the baseline considerably.

[MargieCat]

Maine: Troy Jackson
North Carolina: Roy Cooper
Iowa: Rob Sand
Ohio: Sherrod Brown or Tim Ryan
Florida: Maybe Stephanie Murphy or Gwen Graham
Texas: Roland Gutierrez with Allred for governor
Louisiana: John Bel Edwards
Kansas: Laura Kelly
Kentucky: Andy Beshear
Mississippi: Brandon Pressley
Montana: Jon Tester

I'd be happy if Gary Peters chose not to seek re-election. Then we could replace him with Whitmer, or one of Michigan's other nice white ladies.

[Mr.Bakari-Sellers]

Lol Cooper retired we keep getting these Cooper threads lol don't hold your breath he retired and a Nickel is running for S