Democrats need more combative centrists for sure

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is under fire from progressives for not having a clear, plan for 2024. President Donald Trump faces relentless criticism — but for an entirely different reason: He doesn’t have a clear plan to help Senate Democrats regain a majority, for House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s top priority is merely to govern.

- Matthew Yglesias, Tribune News Service

Republicans can’t find good candidates for the re-election and recruit good candidates for the handful of Senate-seat districts that former Vice President Kamala Harris won in her 2020 presidential race. This will take hard work, skill and a little luck. But it’s clear what the plan is.

In the Senate, Democrats look different. In 2026, there is only one GOP-held seat in a Harris state up for grabs. That of Susan Collins of Maine — arguably the hardest-to-beat incumbent in Congress. Democrats’ next-best opportunity is in North Carolina: a state that Trump narrowly won but whose moderate Democratic voters would still be two seats short of a majority. And 2028 isn’t much better. Democrats have a pickup opportunity in Wisconsin, and North Carolina is on the map again. But the party will need to defend seats in Pennsylvania, Georgia (again), Arizona and Nevada. This is the political equivalent of hoping to draw an inside straight in poker.