How did the Democratic Party lose Senate seats in the 2018 mid-term elections?

I don’t have a ready answer but here are specifics to help people think it through. Four seats flipped.

—Indiana – Republican Mike Braun defeated Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly

—Missouri – Republican Josh Hawley defeated Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill

—North Dakota – Republican Kevin Cramer defeated Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp

—Nevada – Democrat Jacky Rosen defeated Republican Sen. Dean Heller

Of the 35 seats being defended, 26 were being defended by Democrats (or Independents who caucus with Democrats). Some of which, like Claire McCaskill in MO and Heidi Heitkamp in ND, were in deep red country. It’s just a numbers game. It was 100% expected that Democrats would lose a few seats this cycle.

Indiana is also solidly red. Clinton received 37.9% of the vote in 2016.

I am still trying to figure out why anyone voted for Ted Cruz.

Poor candidates and/or poor campaigns.

I’m from the Midwest, not Indiana, but Joe Donnely was rated as the most ineffective Senator by the Center for Effective Law Making, ran a terrible campaign, and voted against Brett Kavanaugh. Many people in the Great Lakes region think that Kavanaugh was improperly treated during committee hearings (it turns out they were probably correct).

The experts say Claire McCaskill did very little to get the African American vote out. She pretty much tried to suck up to Republican and Independent voters, and did not do enough to get out the Dem vote. If you check it out, the black neighborhoods in St. Louis and Kansas City did not vote. She did not campaign intensively there and didn’t get out the vote.

Heidi Heitkamp barely won in 2012, and was never popular in a state that Donald Trump won by a huge margin. She stayed left when she should have been a centrist.

Politics is politics.

They ran as “Republican-lite” and lost. Donnelly had an ad quoting Reagan, Claire McCaskill trashed fellow Dems as being too liberal. If you tell voters that they should vote conservative, they will listen to you and pick the Republican candidate.

McCaskill had big Dem money supporting her this time though, that’s why it surprised me she lost. We have a lot of old-skool Dems here in Missouri but there were also many ads showing how rich she and her husband became off of our tax dollars. Their private jets, their homes, how she passed legislation that he profited from. Plus she was in office like 12 years I believe, and Trump did several rallies here. He actually relates to us better or to something in us, he doesn’t act as much of an elistist as Clinton or McCaskill. And to bring up a bad subject, the abortion issue is more significant here in the bible belt, which is a Rep vote for a lot of people.

there were also many ads showing how rich she and her husband became off of our tax dollars. Their private jets, their homes, how she passed legislation that he profited from.

[Trump] relates to us better or to something in us

Because conservatives would never support a wealthy person who cheats on his taxes and uses government resources for personal gain.

The lack of awareness is amazing.

It was inevitable. Most of the seats up for grab were in states with established Republican stronghold!!! Practically EVERY house seat was up for reelection where less than half the senate seats were up for grabs. I think the Dems did well considering the current political climate Now, IF they will only STAND UP to the bully in charge, they might easily win back the Senate, keep the House, & possibly regain the WH!!!

^^ Heard Dems had 26 seats in play compared to only 9 of Repubs. After reading great jellie answers here ( as usual )....I still think Dems could and should have strategized and fought better.

Speaking for Florida, the state is very split for many years now, and the voting this time just showed it to be true again. We have two recounts going on, senator and governor. I’m pretty sure both will go to the republicans in the end.

I heard a few of my Democrat friends say they wished Nelson would retire, and let someone else run. I’m not sure their specific reasons though. He ran against Rick Scott, and many people liked him when he was governor, so he wasn’t some new guy on the scene, he has been elected by the state of Florida before, just in another position.

Regarding the governorship, the Republican team spent a lot of time and money calling the Democrat candidate, Gillum, antisemitic and saying he would raise taxes significantly. My close friend told me he was going to raise taxes 40%! She was totally bamboozled by the messages being pushed. I think this tax theme plays around the country, not just Florida. The antisemitic accusation is a disgrace! But, it plays with the Evangelicals. Plus, the candidate is black, so I think it probably helped motivate republicans to vote. Not that I think most republicans are racist, I don’t, but I think they worry about a democrat, who talks about social programs, who is blac, having a lot of power. Also, the Republican served in the military, and a lot of the Florida population has very strong feelings about that.