Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-V.T., and his supporters have always believed the mainstream wing of the Democratic Party is working against his insurgent socialist campaign.
Turns out, they’re right. A new report suggests many in the party’s centrist wing are operating in panic mode now that the FiveThirtyEight website gives Sanders the highest odds of winning the nomination.
That’s the last thing in the world they want.
It’s not just that they oppose his socialist agenda.
And it’s not that they believe he’ll lose to President Donald Trump in November.
Instead, it’s that his candidacy could have a catastrophic down-ballot effect, impacting races from the president all the way down to dog catcher.
“People are very worried that if Bernie becomes the nominee that it’ll be a disaster for them in their own districts,” Rep. Juan Vargas, D-Calif., told The Hill, calling the angst over the issue “pretty intense.”
He’s not alone with that anxiety.
“It’s going to make it more difficult for our 44 at-risk candidates to win if they are on the ticket with a democratic socialist, and it will be harder for us to pick up new seats,” Rep. Don Beyer, D-V.A., told the website.
Moderate Democrats – those who are nothing close to Sanders on issues – say they’re already feeing the heat over the “S” word.
“I’m not a socialist; I believe in capitalism,” Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., told The Hill. “The fact that I have to remind people is not a good thing.”
This could not only complicate the House races, including the 44 at-risk seats mentioned by Rep. Beyer.
It could also doom the Democrats’ already-slim hopes of retaking the Senate.
The GOP has 23 seats up for reelection, versus just 12 for the Democrats.
That puts Republicans on the defensive – but less-than-enthusiastic support in key states could not only ensure that Republicans hold their Senate majority, but expand upon it, too.
In Alabama, it would just about seal the fate of Sen. Doug Jones, a Democrat who won a special election to fill the remainder of the term of Jeff Sessions, who had joined the Trump administration as attorney general.
Jones was already widely considered a lost seat for the Democrats.
With Sanders atop the ticket, any chance he has would be just about gone – ensuring at least one GOP gain.
But it would hold steeper ramifications elsewhere.
Besides Jones, the only Democrat in even slight jeopardy would appear to be Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan.
The most recent poll gives him a six-point lead, but sitting at a very tenuous 45 percent.
A Sanders nomination could hand the state to Trump – again – and send Peters packing.
On the Republican side, the left was hoping to flip three seats: Arizona (currently held by Martha McSally), Colorado (Cory Gardner) and Maine (Susan Collins).
Polls show Gardner’s seat will likely flip, cancelling out the gain in Alabama.
But a Sanders ticket could mean wins for both McSally and Collins, who are locked in close races.
The Cook Political Report also shows the Democrats have an outside shot at unseating Kelly Loeffler in Georgia and Thom Tillis in North Carolina as well as picking up the open seat in Kansas.
But a socialist on the presidential ticket could not only help ensure that Trump wins all three states himself, but that the down-ballot effect keeps all three Senate seats in Republican hands.
With so much up in the air, 2020 could have the same results as 2016, with a Republican president… a Republican Senate… and a Republican House.
— Walter W. Murray is a reporter for The Horn News. He is an outspoken conservative and a survival expert, and is the author of “America’s Final Warning.”