Kyle Kondik, managing editor of election handicapper Sabato’s Crystal Ball, on Tuesday said that while Democrats have a chance of gaining half the Senate seats, with the possibility of breaking a tie should Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and running mate Sen. Kamala Harris (Calif.) win the White House, GOP Senate candidates are very much “still in the game.”
“Whatever you think Joe Biden’s odds of winning the presidency are, I think the odds of Democrats winning the Senate are smaller,” Kondik said on Hill.TV’s “Rising.”
“I think the Democrats are favored in both, but I think the Senate is a little bit closer. And obviously, if Trump comes back and wins, the Senate is not gonna flip, I don’t think,” he added.
While Republicans currently hold a 53-47 Senate majority, Kondik said that Democratic Senate candidates are favored in Colorado, Arizona, Maine and North Carolina, even if by a narrow margin.
In Colorado, RealClear Politics, a nonpartisan election handicapper, has the race between incumbent Sen. Cory Gardner (R) and former Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) leaning Democrat.
However, the race in Maine is much closer, with GOP Sen. Susan Collins warning on Tuesday that it could take a week to determine the winner in her race against Democrat Sara Gideon if no candidate gets an outright majority on election night.
Kondik said that audiences should focus on the Senate race in Maine, as well as in Iowa and North Carolina, arguing that “the party that wins at least two of those three is probably going to be in the majority.”
Watch Kondik’s interview above.
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