Here is the list of GOP held seats that could be flipped by Democrats in 2018:
Dean Heller(pictured left) of Nevada is without a doubt the most vulnerable incumbent Republican if not the most vulnerable incumbent senator come 2018. Not only that but Nevada is the only state where a Republican seat is up for election in 2018 that Hillary Clinton won. Jacky Rosen(pictured right) is likely to be the Democrat nominee to try and flip Nevada's U.S. Senate seat.
God forbid if Dean Heller makes it to the general election ballot he will have an abysmally slim chance of winning re-election, why? Just look at the broken promises when it comes to immigration and healthcare. Heller won the 2012 U.S. Senate race for Nevada by 1.2 points at just 45.9% of the vote by promising to block amnesty for illegal aliens and to repeal and replace Obamacare.
Heller broke BOTH of those key promises by first voting for the 2014 Immigration "Reform" bill which would give amnesty to millions of illegal aliens and increase the immigrant population to record levels(due to chain migration).
Another broken promise on immigration is Dean Heller joining Democrats in 2015 to protect Obama's executive quasi-amnesty. The picture above as well as former U.S. Senator Harry Reid(D) giving Dean Heller praise for betraying the GOP base definitely points to a pro-amnesty position for Heller when it comes to Immigration.
When Dean Heller was given the opportunity to vote to repeal Obamacare back in July 2017, he voted no despite even voting for an identical bill back in 2015 when Obama was president. I bet Heller will try to distract GOP primary voters by pointing to his "yes" vote on the "Skinny" repeal of Obamacare(failed thanks to McCain's "no" vote).
Dean Heller has also broken other promises besides immigration and healthcare such as gun control where he supported a bill put forward by U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein of California that would enact burdensome and anti-privacy gun control provisions.
To make matters worse, Dc Dean Heller has also joined the NeverTrump bandwagon even up to the very last hours of the 2016 U.S. Presidential election. Heller has only just recently been supportive of Trump's MAGA agenda chiefly because of Danny Tarkanian's rise in the primary polls against Heller.
Should Heller win the GOP primary in June 2018, he will revert to his NeverTrump position in a murder-suicide type mission against Nevada's GOP held Senate seat. What alternative is there to repeal and replace DC Dean?
Danny Tarkanian is running against Dean Heller to take on whatever Democrat challenges Nevada's GOP held U.S. Senate seat.
Since Tarkanian announced his U.S. Senate campaign back in August 2017, Tarkanian has polled several points against the unpopular Dean Heller.
Unlike DC Dean, Tarkanian will be a more reliable candidate to keep Nevada's U.S. Senate seat GOP. Unlike Dean Heller, Danny Tarkanian is someone Trump can depend on, someone Republicans and Conservatives can trust, and someone who actually has a shot at winning.
The swamp in DC must be drained and Dean Heller is definitely part of the swamp. Even if Tarkanian has some flaws, he's still more electable than DC Dean. The only way for Republicans to prevent Democrats from flipping Nevada's U.S. Senate seat is by throwing their support behind Danny Tarkanian. Tarkanian's primary victory over Dean Heller does not guarantee GOP victory for Nevada's U.S. Senate seat but makes it much more difficult and challenging for Democrats to win Nevada's U.S. Senate race.
Up until former Governor Phil Bredesen(pictured right) decided to enter Tennesee's U.S. Senate race to replace Bob Corker back in December 2017, Tennessee's U.S. Senate seat up for election in 2018 is no longer just Solid GOP. This race now either leans GOP or is a tossup. GOP frontrunner Marsha Blackburn(pictured left) is likely to replace Bob Corker in most circumstances but the MAGA GOP base shouldn't just assume victory here(remember Roy Moore lost). Blackburn is however the strongest candidate that will make Bredesen's chances of flipping Tennessee's U.S. Senate seat slimmer.
However, the GOP establishment led by Mitch McConnell will work hard to get former Congressman Stephen Fincher(pictured right of Corker) to stop Marsha Blackburn from making it to the general election. A supermajority of GOP voters have no idea who Stephen Fincher is and even though I feel his chances of stopping Marsha Blackburn from winning the GOP spot in the general election are very small to virtually non-existent, this is not reason for MAGA to ignore this threat.
The GOPe has yet to endorse and raise money for Fincher but he's a potential GOPe agent willing to allow Phil Bredesen to easily flip Tennessee's U.S. Senate seat. Mid-December 2017 polling has shown Marsha Blackburn leading Phil Bredesen 43-34% while Stephen Fincher trails Phil Bredesen 42-30%.
Therefore, Marsha Blackburn is the strongest candidate to not only keep Tennessee's U.S. Senate seat GOP but also use her power as a U.S. Senator to force the GOP majority to act like one. What could be better than to replace a GOPe hack like Bob Corker with a strong conservative like Marsha Blackburn who has the favorable policy positions and ratings to fight for the American people in the U.S. Senate.
For Arizona's U.S. Senate race, I'm supporting Kelli Ward(pictured left) who if she wins the GOP primary will likely challenge Democrat Congresswoman Kyrsten Sinema(pictured right) to succeed unpopular pro-amnesty Jeff Flake.
GOP Congresswoman Martha McSally has announced she would also be running for Jeff Flake's vacated seat. Though have no position on whether McSally is GOPe or not, Kelli Ward is still the stronger candidate as she was the one whose campaign pressured Jeff Flake to retire due to double digit losses behind Ward.
The only reason for Martha McSally to run in this race is if she was secretly recruited by the GOP establishment to stop Kelli Ward from being in the U.S. Senate to Make America Great Again and do what Jeff Flake would never do.
Kelli Ward is the strongest and most reliable GOP candidate to replace unpopular RINO Jeff Flake. It was Kelli Ward's campaign that resulted in Jeff Flake's decision not to seek re-election in 2018. Therefore, McSally needs to step aside and allow Kelli Ward to make it to the General Election.
Orrin Hatch has announced he will not seek re-election, making 2018 his final year in the U.S. Senate. Speculation has been going on for months that Mitt Romney has considered running for the U.S. Senate to replace Orrin Hatch. God please compel a MAGA Republican to rise up and run to replace Orrin Hatch and stop Mitt Romney from becoming the GOP nominee for Utah's U.S. Senate seat!
President of the Sutherland Institute and former Chief of Staff to Senator Mike Lee; Boyd Matheson should be the first to come to mind for any Trump/Bannonite Republican replacement to retiring Orrin Hatch. I know Matheson has decline to seek this now open seat but now that Orrin Hatch is not seeking re-election, Matheson should seriously reconsider. Hopefully either Matheson or some other pro-Trump Republican in Utah will run for Orrin Hatch's U.S. Senate seat.
Texas is supposed to be solid R right? Well there could be some freak circumstance when Democrat Congressman Beto O'Rourke(pictured right) manages to unseat Ted Cruz(pictured left) if the GOP base has it's guard down. I don't worry too much about Ted Cruz losing his U.S. Senate seat but it's always good to be cautious, especially after Roy Moore's defeat in Alabama.
Although I did have bones to pick with Ted Cruz, especially during his 2016 U.S. Presidential campaign, Cruz has proved himself a valuable asset to the Trump agenda in the U.S. Senate.
As for the U.S. Senate seats held by Republicans John Barrasso(Wyoming), Deb Fischer(Nebraska), and Roger Wicker(Mississippi), Steve Bannon was planning to have primary challenges against them but it's best to just leave their seats alone as neither do they pose a serious threat to President Trump nor are unelectable. If I were Bannon I would save the primary challenges in Nebraska and Mississipi for example against Ben Sasse and Thad Cochran respectively. While Ben Sasse will need to be primaried to stop his NeverTrump stance, Thad Cochran will be likely retire after 2020 due to his health problems.
Who knows, we might see a change with the GOP establishment, realizing that taking a NeverTrump stance is not worth it unless Trump asks for it. Republicans no matter what wing need to understand the need for party unity behind Trump going into 2018 and 2020 and the need to defeat the obstructionist Democrats, including achieving a filibuster proof GOP majority in the U.S. Senate.
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