GOP Feeling No Trump Backlash, Hopeful to Keep Senate

GOP Senate incumbents in the crucial states of Ohio, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania are seeing no ill effects since Donald Trump's nomination — fueling hopes about the party's chances of saving its Senate majority, The Hill reports.

"If the election were held today, it'd be exactly like a midterm election," David Carney, a New Hampshire-based GOP strategist tells The Hill. "Good campaigns are going to win. There's no landslide."

According to The Hill, Democrats hope to nationalize elections by tying Trump to every Republican running for office — while Republicans aim to localize races by focusing on issues specific to their constituents.

"Republicans are running their campaigns like they're running for sheriff," National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesman Greg Blair tells The Hill. "We will make sure that voters are casting their ballots in Senate races based on Senate candidates, not whatever might be happening up, down or sideways on the ticket."

Republicans hold 54 seats in the Senate, which means Democrats must win four seats and the White House to reclaim control of the Senate, or five seats to win an outright majority, The Hill notes.

Democrats are favored to win back Republican-held seats in Illinois and Wisconsin, and are ahead in polls in Indiana, The Hill reports; races in Ohio, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania are effectively tied.

The GOP holds 247 seats in the House, meaning Democrats would have to win 30 seats to win control.

But both Republicans and Democrats say the fight to win control of the 115th Congress is just starting in earnest, according to The Hill.

"Democrats haven't really started the process of tying Trump around Republican necks," Jon McHenry, a GOP pollsters, tells The Hill. "The swing state Republicans who hold their seats this fall will be those with a good story of vision and accomplishment to tell that allows them to run independently of Trump."

If Democrats have any serious advantage 100 days out, it is an organizational one, The Hill reports.

The Clinton campaign shares a headquarters with former Sen. Russ Feingold, the Democrat incumbent GOP Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson beat in 2010, has four joint offices with Democratic campaigns in North Carolina, and 18 offices shared with Democratic Senate candidate Katie McGinty's campaign in Pennsylvania, The Hill reports.

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