Democrats aiming for upsets in Florida, Texas Senate races to keep power in upper chamber

Senate Democrats are pinning their hopes of keeping the upper chamber by flipping two seats in solidly Republican Florida and Texas, since must-win Montana looks more difficult.

Republicans have made beating Sen. Jon Tester, Montana Democrat, their prime mission this election season. Indeed, the path to control the upper chamber runs through Montana, with West Virginia being a guaranteed victory for the GOP.

With Mr. Tester slipping in the polls against Republican candidate Tim Sheehy, Democrats are now eyeing Florida and Texas. Sen. Gary Peters, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, told reporters on Tuesday that the seats occupied by Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas were “increasingly in play.”

“We still need to raise more resources, and we’re going to be working to do that as these states become more in play, both Florida and Texas, and I’m confident we’re going to win something,” said Mr. Peters, Michigan Democrat, at a breakfast hosted by The Christian Science Monitor.

In Texas, Mr. Cruz leads Rep. Colin Allred, a former NFL linebacker who Democrats say could beat the two-term incumbent because of his victory in a Dallas suburban district that was held by Republicans for years.

In Florida, Mr. Scott is leading his Democratic challenger, former Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell. Mr. Peters noted that Democrats were placing their chips on getting more voters to turn out in that race because of the ballot referendum that would enshrine abortion rights into the state’s Constitution.

Mr. Peters said both Republican candidates are more unpopular than in their previous races and noted that Mr. Scott won his 2018 contest by less than a point.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee pushed back, with spokesman Philip Letsou saying, “In Texas, Gary Peters recruited an open-borders radical who said Trump’s border wall is racist and then got caught lying about it. In Florida, he recruited a socialist with ties to a Ukrainian oligarch accused of contract killings. The NRSC will do whatever it takes to make sure Ted Cruz and Rick Scott defeat their radical opponents.”

Meanwhile, Montana and tight races in Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are still the priority for Democrats.

In Montana and Ohio, Mr. Peters noted that the DSCC was “on our own” when it came to campaign resources, largely because those states lean heavily in favor of former President Donald Trump.

That means any money that could go to Florida or Texas, both with massive media markets, would be diverted from seats that Democrats are trying to defend.