Republican leaders and donors concerned over the fight to keep the Senate in the hands of the GOP with Donald Trump at the head of the party held discussions on strategy,
The Hill reports.
Many in the GOP are worried that negative perceptions about Trump will weigh down the rest of the Republican candidates on the election ballot.
This uncertainly comes at a particularly bad time for the GOP, because they have to defend 24 Senate seats, including a fourth of those in states that President Barack Obama won in both of his elections for the White House.
The Democrats only have to defend 10 seats, and if they win the presidency, a pick-up of only four seats will be enough to capture control of the Senate
National Republican Senatorial Committee Executive Director Ward Baker gave a briefing to the meeting, which took place on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
Baker said data shows several vulnerable Republicans are polling better than Trump in key battleground states, but there will have to be much effort extended for such a trend to continue.
One major problem is a competition for available funds from donors to back these Senate races now that Trump is under pressure to step up his fundraising for the presidency.
Some Senate Republicans are using the prospect of an uncertain Trump victory to raise money for their own campaigns.
Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, for example, circulated a fundraising email, The Hill reports, in which he says, "We can only imagine what a Hillary Clinton administration would do.
This makes it absolutely critical that Republicans maintain control of the Senate in order to keep a Clinton administration in check in case she wins."
The New York Times reports that while some GOP senators did not attend the convention, apparently out of a desire to not be associated with Trump, there is a fairly strong showing in Cleveland.
This includes Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who is scheduled to speak Tuesday to focus on Hillary Clinton's failed policies and the importance of having a Republican in the White House to keep a conservative Supreme Court.
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