While it remains uncertain if outgoing Senate majority leader Harry Reid will run for re-election to the senate in 2016, for now, all signs are that he will and the GOP is making it clear he’ll have a target on his back if he does.
Democrats wanted very much to defeat presumed incoming senate majority leader Mitch McConnell this cycle. They failed … badly and can’t complain about a little payback for their unsuccessful effort. Not only that, Reid’s leadership is under scrutiny from both the Right and Left. Then there’s the matter of his attacking the White House just a day after a disastrous election.
It’s unclear just how much support he may have if he does stand for re-election in 2016. That could make the GOP’s goal of knocking him off all the more obtainable. All things considered, while the scrappy one time prize fighter might not like going out when he’s down … retiring may be the only way for Reid to avoid being knocked out cold.
Senate Republicans, riding high after capturing the majority, said Wednesday that a top priority in 2016 will be defeating Democratic leader Harry Reid.
“It’s not just about being in the majority, it’s about expanding the majority at this point,” Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., told reporters. “We’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen.”
Heller, who is seeking the chairmanship of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said the effort would be “just business.”
The GOP won handily on Election Day, tightening its grip on the House and regaining control of the Senate after eight years. Republicans knocked off Democratic incumbents in Arkansas, North Carolina, Colorado and Alaska, where the latest vote count showed Dan Sullivan prevailing over Sen. Mark Begich, and claimed a handful of open seats.