Democracy in Action - Campaign Literature Archive 2014 Senate Races

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Nov. 4, 2014 Senate Races

	Gov.	Sen.
2021	x
2020	x	x
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2012	x	x
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At Stake: 36 Seats

Before Nov. 4: 53D, 45R and 2I.

AL - AK - AR - CO - DE - GA - HI(s) - ID - IL - IA - KS - KY - LA - ME - MA - MI - MN - MS - MT - NE - NH - NJ - NM - NC - OK - OK(s) - OR - RI - SC - SC(s) - SD - TN - TX - VA - WV - WY

	Democrats	Republicans	Third Party/Independent
Alabama	[no Democratic candidate]

Alaska R+

Arkansas R+

Colorado R+

Delaware

Georgia

Hawaii (s)

Idaho

Illinois

Iowa R+

Kansas	[Dem. nominee Chad Taylor withdrew Sept. 3]

Kentucky

Louisiana R+

Maine		[missing Sen. Susan Collins]

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Montana R+

Nebraska

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

North Carolina R+

Oklahoma

Oklahoma (s)

Oregon

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Carolina (s)

South Dakota R+

Tennessee

Texas

Virginia

West Virginia R+

Wyoming

Thank you to the many people who have helped make this page possible.

After Nov. 4/Dec. 6: 54R, 44D, 2I.

Thirty-six U.S. Senate seats at stake in 2014.

Margin of Victory in Percentage Points

25.01 +	20.01-25.0	15.01-20.0	10.01-15.0	5.01-10.0	0-5.0	0-5.0	5.01-10.0	10.01-15.0	15.01-20.0	20.01-25.0	25.01 +
RI 41.34 HI 42.07	MA 23.88	OR 18.86	MN 10.24 IL 10.68 NM 11.12 MI 13.28 NJ 13.51 DE 13.60		VA 0.81 NH 3.24	NC 1.56* CO 1.94* AK 2.13*	GA 7.68 IA 8.34*	KS 10.62 LA 11.87*	KY 15.47 SC 15.48 AR 17.07* MT 17.72*	SD 20.86* MS 22.01 SCs 24.02	TX 27.20 WV 27.65* TN 30.00 ID 30.66 NE 32.85 ME 36.96 OKs 38.87 OK 39.46 WY 54.74 AL 94.50

*Seat changed parties.

	OVERVIEW [more] Balance before: 53 Democrats, 45 Republicans and 2 Independents. 36 seats at stake: 21 held by Democrats, 15 by Republicans. 8 retirements: 5 Democrats, 3 Republicans. 5 Democrats: Tom Harkin (IA), Carl Levin (MI), Max Baucus (MT), Tim Johnson (SD), Jay Rockefeller (WV). 3 Republicans: Saxby Chambliss (GA), Mike Johanns (NE), Tom Coburn (OK). No incumbents defeated in primaries. 5 incumbents defeated in the general election, all Democrats. Mark Begich (AK), Mark Pryor (AR), Mark Udall (CO), Kay Hagan (NC), and Mary Landrieu (LA). 4 open seats flipped, all Democrat to Republican.* IA (Harkin) Joni Ernst, MT (Baucus/Walsh) Daines, SD (Johnson) Mike Rounds, WV (Rockefeller) Shelley Moore Capito 13 new Senators elected: 12 Republicans, 1 Democrat. 12 Republicans: Dan Sullivan (AK), Tom Cotton (AR), Cory Gardner (CO), David Perdue (GA), Joni Ernst (IA), Bill Cassidy (LA), Steve Daines (MT), Ben Sasse (NE), Thom Tillis (NC), James Lankford (OK), Mike Rounds (SD) and Shelley Moore Capito (WV). 1 Democrat: Gary Peters (MI). Races won: Democrats 12, Republicans 24. Balance after: 54 Republicans, 44 Democrats and 2 Independents.

	HIGHLIGHTS Republicans needed a net gain of six seats to gain control of the Senate. They gained nine seats. The map favored the GOP; Democrats were defending six seats in states Mitt Romney had won by large margins in 2012: Alaska (54.8 to 40.8), Arkansas (60.6 to 36.9), Louisiana (57.8 to 40.6), Montana (55.4 to 41.7), South Dakota (58.0 to 39.9) and West Virginia (62.3 to 35.5). They lost in all of those as well as North Carolina, which Romney narrowly won (50.4 to 48.4), plus Colorado and Iowa. According to OpenSecrets.org (>), the most expensive Senate race occurred in North Carolina, where the campaigns spent $34.7 million and outside groups spent $80.5 million for a total of $115.2 million. Eight other races tallied more than $50 million in total spending: Colorado ($101.8 million), Iowa ($85.3 million), Kentucky ($81.7 million), Arkansas ($66.3 million), Louisiana ($59.6 million, Alaska ($57.6 million), New Hampshire ($55.5 million), and Michigan ($51.4 million). The closest Senate race of the cycle was in Virginia, where Ed Gillespie (R) fell just short of upsetting Sen. Mark Warner (D). Of the 70 major party nominees, 15 were women (21.4%). Ten of 34 Democrats or 29.4% were women (3 incumbents, 4 open seat and 3 challengers), but only one won, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (NH), while Sens. Kay Hagan (NC) and Mary Landrieu (LA) were defeated. Five of 36 Republicans or 13.9% were women (1 incumbent, 3 open seat and 1 challenger). Sen. Susan Collins (ME) won re-election; Joni Ernst (IA) and Shelley Moore Capito (WV) won in open seats. None of the four women challengers won. In two races, both major party nominees were women (ME, WV). The strongest showing by a third party or independent candidate was Greg Orman (I) in Kansas. The Democratic nominee running against Sen. Pat Roberts (R) dropped out at the filing deadline.
	see also:campaign managers
	THEMES Three themes stand out in the 2014 literature: 1) Candidates of all parties agree Washington is broken. 2) With few exceptions, literature from Republican candidates has strong language against Obamacare. A few examples: "Voted more than 100 times to stop Obamacare and wrote legislation to repeal it." [Thad Cochran]. "Voted against Obamacare 23 times" [Lamar Alexander]. "Lindsey Graham fought against Obamacare from Day One and has repeatedly voted against it in the U.S. Senate." "Senator Inhofe is leading the charge against ObamaCare. This is the most dangerous liberal scheme ever perpetuated by Big Liberal Government. It must be gutted, repealed, defunded and replaced." 3) The Democratic literature does not have a lot to say about Obamacare; a major theme was protecting Social Security and Medicare.