Will the Tea Party oust any incumbent GOP senators this year?

Tea Party upstarts have so far been shut out in their attempts to unseat incumbent Republican senators this year, but they'll get two more chances to do so this week when voters head to the polls in Kansas and Tennessee. Unfortunately for them, though, their odds of pulling off a dramatic upset are slim, at best.

On Tuesday, GOP voters in Kansas will choose between 33-year incumbent Sen. Pat Roberts and challenger Milton Wolf, Obama's second cousin. Roberts has shown some signs of weakness — anonymous Republicans told Politico they were "worried" about the threat of an upset — though he holds about a 20-point lead according to recent polling.

Similarly, Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander has a solid double-digit edge on his closest competitor, Rep. Joe Carr. Alexander could also get a boost now that a third candidate, George Flinn, has entered the race and attacked Carr.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up

That said, primary polling is notoriously fickle. And no one predicted Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) would get the boot earlier this year either, so a stunning victory is certainly not out of the question — it's just highly unlikely.