Which Democratic Candidates For Senate Did Best— And Worst?

Also: Rural Voters Sent Democrats A Message

Vermont, where 61% of the people live in rural areas, is the most rural state in the U.S.

• Mazie Hirono (D-HI)- 64.9% [Lifetime crucial vote score- 98.0]

• Bernie (I-VT)- 63.3% [Lifetime crucial vote score- 93.7]

• Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)- 59.8% [Lifetime crucial vote score- 92.6]

• Maria Cantwell (D-WA)- 59.8% [Lifetime crucial vote score- 89.7]

• Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)- 59.6% [Lifetime crucial vote score- 97.8]

• Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)- 58.4% [Lifetime crucial vote score- 96.6]

• Chris Murphy (D-CT)- 57.7% [Lifetime crucial vote score- 87.5]

• Adam Schiff (D-CA)- 57.3% [Lifetime crucial vote score- 85.3]

• Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE)- 56.6% [Lifetime crucial vote score- 90.3]

• Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)- 56.3% [Lifetime crucial vote score- 88.1]

• Martin Heinrich (D-NM)- 54.9% [Lifetime crucial vote score- 94.1]

• Tim Kaine (D-VA)- 54.1% [Lifetime crucial vote score- 84.6]

• Andy Kim (D-NJ)- 53.2% [Lifetime crucial vote score- 87.9]

• Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD)- 52.2%

• Angus King (I-ME)- 51.8% [Lifetime crucial vote score- 77.8]

• Ruben Gallego (D-AZ)- 50.2% [Lifetime crucial vote score- 84.3]

• Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)- 49.4% [Lifetime crucial vote score- 95.5]

• Elissa Slotkin (D-MI)- 48.6% [Lifetime crucial vote score- 75.1]

• Bob Casey (D-PA)- 48.5% [Lifetime crucial vote score- 87.4]

• Jacky Rosen (D-NV)- 47.6% [Lifetime crucial vote score- 86.1]

• Sherrod Brown (D-OH)- 46.4% [Lifetime crucial vote score- 95.5]

• Dan Osborn (I-NE)- 46.1%

• Jon Tester (D-MT)- 44.9% [Lifetime crucial vote score- 78.7]

• Colin Allred (D-TX)- 44.5% [Lifetime crucial vote score- 82.9]

• Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-FL)- 42.8%

• Lucas Kunce (D-MO)- 41.8%

• Valerie McCray (D-IN)- 38.6%

• Preston Love (D-NE)- 36.9%

• Ty Pinkins (D-MS)- 36.7%

• Gloria Johnson (D-TN)- 34.2%

• Katrina Christiansen (D-ND)- 33.5%

• Caroline Gleich (D-UT)- 31.9%

• Glenn Elliott (D-WV)- 27.6%

• Scott Morrow (D-WY)- 24.3%

Generally speaking, the progressives are clustered at the top of the list and the “moderates” and conservatives among the incumbents— like Tester, Mucarsel-Powell, Allred, Casey, Rosen, Slotkin, Kaine, Kim— are clustered towards the bottom. (The exceptions to the rule were Sherrod Brown, a progressive who lost, and Tammy Baldwin, a progressive who faced the headwinds and won by the skin of her teeth.)

Trump increased GOP margins in rural counties, counties he was already strong in, and it hurt Democrats everywhere but helped lose Senate seats in Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas and give us close calls in Wisconsin, Michigan and Arizona. Reporting for Barn Raiser yesterday, Bryce Oates and Jake Davis wrote that “Harris crisscrossed battleground states with old-guard Republicans like Liz Chaney and pandered to the pro-business crowd by trotting out billionaire and Ayn Rand devotee Mark Cuban to sell her economic plan. That seems to have failed miserably… It is also clear that a Democratic presidential campaign should bring on a rural vote director sooner than 60 days before election day—not to mention provide that director with a real rural team and rural-focused budget. On that note, a Democratic presidential campaign should have a policy plan for rural Americans prior to the start of early voting (the Harris-Walz campaign released theirs on October 15). Finally, the Democratic presidential nominee should use some of their time campaigning to talk to rural people about rural-specific issues rather than passing that task to the veep candidate or surrogates.”

They also noted that “James Carville’s adage from Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign ‘It’s the economy stupid’ is true, particularly in rural places that still often feel left behind. How you talk about the economy also is incredibly important. Couching corporate greed as ‘price gouging’ or addressing the housing crisis with another tax credit is wonky inside-the-Beltway speak that just doesn’t resonate. Instead, how about telling working people they deserve a raise? It wins. Need proof? Look at the minimum wage results from deep-red Missouri, which won in rural counties and passed statewide with nearly 60%. Why is raising the minimum wage, and getting rid of the tipped wage, not at the top of the Democratic Party agenda? Popular is popular, no matter what party you’re in.”

If Democrats want to do better among rural voters, they don’t need apostate Republicans with conservative agendas as much as they need to talk forcefully not “how the meatpackers JBS and Smithfield are polluting our water. Or how Big Agriculture is colluding in a sham government-funded carbon pipeline scheme through the Midwest. Or how big pharma created an opioid crisis that still plagues many small towns. That would be taking on corporate power and billionaire donors, which, up until this point, has seemed to be a bridge too far for most Democrats.”