Schumer predicts Democrats will keep Senate majority, and 'maybe even pick up seats'


Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) remains optimistic that the Democrats will be able to defy the recent wave of enthusiasm for Republicans and maintain their Senate majority, The Associated Press reports.
Schumer believes Democratic candidates will be able to defeat their opponents in the highly contested battleground states and even sees the potential of flipping some seats.
"It's tight," Schumer said in the interview with AP. "I believe Democrats will hold the Senate and maybe even pick up seats."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Schumer's confident forecast comes as support and enthusiasm for Democrats fall behind a boost in the polls for the GOP. Republicans are benefiting from voters' high interest in economic concerns and their dissatisfaction with President Biden's performance. Maintaining control of the Senate has been a steep battle for Democrats from the beginning, and historically the dominant party tends to lose congressional seats in the midterm elections.
Regardless, Schumer is counting on high voter turnout on Tuesday to secure the win for his party and told interviewers that Democrats have advantages in each of the critical battleground states. He emphasized that Democratic candidates are "defying the political environment," shattering the narrative that Republicans would quickly take control of the Senate.
He believes his party's endurance against the odds suggests that voters "are seeing how extreme these Republican candidates are, and they don't like it. And second, they're seeing the Democrats are talking to them on issues they care about, and that we've accomplished a great deal on things."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Theara Coleman has worked as a staff writer at The Week since September 2022. She frequently writes about technology, education, literature and general news. She was previously a contributing writer and assistant editor at Honeysuckle Magazine, where she covered racial politics and cannabis industry news.
-
Succession planning as the Dalai Lama turns 90
In the Spotlight China 'determined to shape the narrative' around choice of Tibet's next spiritual leader
-
AI is creating a luxury housing renaissance in San Francisco
Under the Radar Luxury homes in the city can range from $7 million to above $20 million
-
How carbon credits could help and hurt the climate
The explainer The credits could be allowing polluters to continue polluting
-
Zohran Mamdani: the young progressive likely to be New York City's next mayor
In The Spotlight The policies and experience that led to his meteoric rise
-
The last words and final moments of 40 presidents
The Explainer Some are eloquent quotes worthy of the holders of the highest office in the nation, and others... aren't
-
Senate advances GOP bill that costs more, cuts more
Speed Read The bill would make giant cuts to Medicaid and food stamps, leaving 11.8 million fewer people with health coverage
-
Some mainstream Democrats struggle with Zohran Mamdani's surprise win
TALKING POINT To embrace or not embrace? A party in transition grapples with a rising star ready to buck political norms and energize a new generation.
-
Canadian man dies in ICE custody
Speed Read A Canadian citizen with permanent US residency died at a federal detention center in Miami
-
GOP races to revise megabill after Senate rulings
Speed Read A Senate parliamentarian ruled that several changes to Medicaid included in Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" were not permissible
-
Supreme Court lets states ax Planned Parenthood funds
Speed Read The court ruled that Planned Parenthood cannot sue South Carolina over the state's effort to deny it funding
-
Trump plans Iran talks, insists nuke threat gone
Speed Read 'The war is done' and 'we destroyed the nuclear,' said President Trump