Roll Call: Cruz Or Trump Equals Democratic Senate

Roll Call has news for the Republican Senate and it's all bad:

The burden is on Republican strategists and nominees to prove that they can hold the Senate majority even in light of the party’s civil war.

Some suggest that Republican down-ballot candidates might be able to retain their seats even if the top of the ticket performs poorly, primarily by localizing their races. That conclusion seems more than a bit naïve given what happened in 1964, 1972 and 1980.

It was one thing for Democrat Heidi Heitkamp to eke out a narrow North Dakota Senate victory even when Republican Mitt Romney was carrying the state in 2012. But the situation would be dramatically worse for a Republican running for re-election in a swing state when his or her party is in the middle of a political civil war and with a controversial, radioactive nominee at the top of the ticket.

As the Republican nominee, the uncompromising Cruz would end up defining his party’s positions on key issues, while the controversial Trump would inject himself into every race across the country. Either candidacy would make it very difficult for GOP Senate nominees to run their own races and establish their own brand.

And their set of options on the Supreme Court vacancy is now....just....awful.

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