Democratic leaders in Congress are seemingly losing hope on keeping Sen. Jon Tester's seat in Montana. But in efforts to maintain their majority in the chamber of Congress, the party is switching gears to go on the offense in Florida.
In the Sunshine State, former Democratic Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell is challenging GOP Sen. Rick Scott. She has been closing her gap with the incumbent, quickly making the race a high-profile contest.
The latest study in FiveThirtyEight's aggregator, conducted by The Bulfinch Group and The Independent Center, shows the Democratic challenger trailing behind Scott by just two percentage points, 44% to the incumbent's 46%.
That study is among the closest that the Democrat has ever been to the lead. Only one by Emerson College and The Hill from September 3-5 showed a narrower difference, with Scott leading 46% to 46%.
Because of that, Democrats are signaling they want to expand the playing field and be in a position to flip Republican seats, Axios reports.
The news reportedly follows donor retreat over the weekend in Amelia Island, Florida, where Sen. Gary Peters, the chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, shared his views of the landscape in the Upper House. Attendees described the DSCC presentation as a clear-eyed and sobering overview of the cycle's most competitive races.
In the presentation, Peters reportedly highlighted the party's chances in Florida and Texas, where the most recent poll has Sen. Ted Cruz up by just three points against Rep. Colin Allred, his Democratic challenger, who even took the lead in a September survey.
Officials also acknowledged Sen. Tester is down in the polls, despite party strategists still seeing a path for him to win his reelection bid. Back in August, Peters spoke at an event organized by Politico on the sidelines of the Democratic National Convention, where he said Tester will win his race.
"Jon Tester is as authentic a person from Montana as you could possibly get," he began. "He understands folks in Montana. He's out in the community. Montana is a really big state geographically, but population-wise is smaller, and so he's gotten to know a lot of folks in a more personal way that allows you to transcend some of that."
A polling average of 15 studies by Emerson College and The Hill showed the incumbent almost 6 percentage points behind his challenger, Republican Tim Sheehy. Other polls, like the Napolitan News Service, see the Democrat trailing behind by even more points, standing at 43% to Sheehy's 50%.
As Election Day approaches, Democrats are considering a late blitz in the Florida Senate race. While air time hasn't officially been booked, Axios reports the DSCC is planning to "make a splash" in Florida in the coming weeks. That would add to the $5.6 million in advertising the party has already spent in the state, according to AdImpact.
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