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Election 2014: the most competitive Senate races

The Democrats face a challenge in their quest to hold onto the US Senate. Eleven races this year are seen as competitive – eight seats held by Democrats, three by Republicans. Here’s the rundown.

6. Georgia: Saxby Chambliss (R), retiring

Kevin Wolf for A Billion + Change/AP
Michelle Nunn speaks at the launch of A Billion + Change, a national campaign to mobilize billions of pro bono and skills-based service resources by 2013, at a ceremony on Capitol Hill in Washington, Nov. 3, 2011.

[Updated Oct. 26] This is one of only two Republican-held seats seen as competitive this cycle. The Democrats got a strong recruit in Michelle Nunn, who glided to victory in a barely contested Democratic primary. Ms. Nunn served as CEO of George H.W. Bush's Points of Light Foundation and is the daughter of former four-term US Sen. Sam Nunn (D) of Georgia.

After a bruising seven-candidate primary battle, Republicans narrowly elected businessman David Perdue in a July 22 runoff, defeating 11-term US Rep. Jack Kingston by less than 2 percentage points. Like Ms. Nunn, Mr. Perdue is a political neophyte with a well-known last name. He is the cousin of former Gov. Sonny Perdue, the first Republican governor elected in Georgia since the Reconstruction era.

National money from both parties is flooding the race. For Democrats, it’s a rare opportunity to grab a Senate seat in a red state. For Republicans, keeping the seat in their hands is vital to the party’s goal of retaking the Senate.

Cook and Sabato call the race a tossup. Rothenberg calls it lean Republican. 

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

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