United States Senate Election, 2018 (Dane)

The United States Senate Election, 2018 was held on November 6th, 2018 between the Republican and Democratic Parties. The Republican Party headed by majority leader Mitch McConnell, held a 51-49 majority over the Democratic Party and Chuck Schumer heading into the midterms. The map was strongly democratic, with 26 Democratic Senators up for election compared to just 9 Republican Senators. However, the Republicans also had the incumbent President, Donald Trump. Ultimately, in a close race for the senate, despite a resounding victory for the Democrats on the generic ballot, the Democrats gained two seats and the Republicans gained one seat to shrink McConnell's senate majority to 50-50. This was despite three Republican retirements from Senators Bob Corker of Tennessee, Orrin Hatch of Utah, and Jeff Flake of Arizona.

Early on, a democratic controlled senate was seen as impossible in 2018, due to the large number of democratic seats in Trump-won states up for re-election. However, some good plays from the Democrats led to a surprisingly competitive season. Notably in Tennessee, where former governor Phil Bredesen was nominated, and in Texas, where Beto O'Rourke ran a valiant progressive campaign against Ted Cruz, a presidential nominee just two years earlier. They also took advantage of increasingly unfavorable Republican demographics in Arizona and Nevada to win senate seats there as well. Demographics also worked in opposition in North Dakota, where one-term Senator Heidi Heitkamp fell to US Representative Kevin Cramer.