How Republicans could win back the Senate in 2014

In a party where good news has been hard to find over the past two years, the current state of play in 2014 Senate races gives Republicans some reason to smile.

 

A combination of raw numbers, a shift in the political environment and some notable recruiting failures has handed Senate Republicans a realistic — but by no means certain— chance of picking up the six seats they need to win back control of the chamber.

 

This was always going to be a good election cycle — numbers-wise — for Senate Republicans. They are defending just 14 seats, compared with 21 for Democrats. And of those 14 seats, just one — that of Maine’s Susan Collins — is in a state that President Obama won in 2012. By contrast, one-third of the Democrats up for reelection in 2014 represent states former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney carried in 2012.