# 2022 US Senate Races **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 6, 2020, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2022-us-senate-races/922327 "2020-10-06T10:26:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 39
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2022, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2022-us-senate-races/922327/762 "2022-09-15T02:19:34Z")
Darn it. That’s an accurate pollster, too. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2022, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2022-us-senate-races/922327/763 "2022-09-15T13:14:25Z")
Some good news for Dems, although its actual impact on Senate races is probably negligible: > **[Biden approval rises sharply ahead of midterms: AP-NORC poll](https://www.aol.com/news/biden-approval-rises-sharply-ahead-040247079-091327488.html)** > > Support for Biden recovered from a low of 36% in July to 45%, driven in large part by a rebound in support from Democrats just two months before the November midterm elections. ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2022, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2022-us-senate-races/922327/764 "2022-09-15T13:44:29Z")
I saw a story on this somewhere and the writer referred to Graham as being “way too politically savvy” to not realize what he was doing (or something like that). If “politically savvy” means spineless, lying hypocrite, I guess the shoe fits. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2022, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2022-us-senate-races/922327/765 "2022-09-15T13:59:54Z")
[A new poll](https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/3642520-fetterman-has-9-point-lead-on-oz-poll/) has Fetterman up by nine points over Oz in the Pennsylvania Senate race. Is there a supplement pill Oz can take to magically make him more appealing to voters? ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2022, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2022-us-senate-races/922327/766 "2022-09-15T14:08:55Z")
I saw some commentary that suggested Graham is playing the Trump game of sowing chaos. The theory is that Russia has kompromat on him, and he is doing Putin’s bidding of weakening the US by chaos. Silly, on it’s face, but one can’t rule it out. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2022, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2022-us-senate-races/922327/767 "2022-09-15T14:27:14Z")
Or it’s just to keep us talking about abortion instead the Trump crime spree. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2022, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2022-us-senate-races/922327/768 "2022-09-15T20:01:15Z")
> [@flurb](#): > > And in the final Senate primary of the cycle, Republicans decided (once again) that their best candidate in a purple state was the right-wing nutjob election denier. It’s a bold move, Cotton. Let’s see if it pays off. This headturning 180 just in: Asked Thursday on Fox News]([Meet the GOP U.S. Senate candidates in N.H.: Don Bolduc | New Hampshire Public Radio](https://www.nhpr.org/politics/2022-09-02/meet-the-republicans-running-for-u-s-senate-in-new-hampshire-don-bolduc)) about the 2020 race, Bolduc, a retired Army brigadier general who faces Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan in November, said he’s “done a lot of research on this” and, after speaking with New Hampshire voters, was changing his position. “I’ve come to the conclusion, and I want to be definitive on this: The election was not stolen,” Bolduc said, adding that while he still believes there was fraud, “Elections have consequences and, unfortunately, President Biden is the legitimate president of this country.” [https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/15/politics/don-bolduc-election-new-hampshire-senate/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/15/politics/don-bolduc-election-new-hampshire-senate/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2022, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2022-us-senate-races/922327/769 "2022-09-15T20:10:28Z")
Shake that Etch A Sketch! ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2022, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2022-us-senate-races/922327/770 "2022-09-15T20:20:53Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > I saw some commentary that suggested Graham is playing the Trump game of sowing chaos. The theory is that Russia has kompromat on him, and he is doing Putin’s bidding of weakening the US by chaos. Silly, on it’s face, but one can’t rule it out. If Trump does, then someone else must and it would have come out by now. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2022, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2022-us-senate-races/922327/771 "2022-09-15T20:45:27Z")
> [@whitetho](#): > > This headturning 180 just in: This may be the least subtle post-primary pivot in recent memory. And I can’t for the life of me imagine what good Bolduc thinks this is going to do him. It’s deliberately insulting to his base supporters (who he needs to turn out in November), and it isn’t going to convince many if any independents to give him a second look. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2022, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2022-us-senate-races/922327/772 "2022-09-17T00:33:52Z")
An interesting decision by ESPNU tonight, a cable station focused on college sports. They’re showing a Herschel Walker retrospective complete with interviews with Donald Trump during his USFL days. I’m in a sports bar now and basically every sports channel that exists in the USA is shown on at least one TV. Dumb coincidence by someone who knows nothing about politics? Clever move by someone with a political agenda inside their programming group? Still, someone at ESPN should have figured this wasn’t a good idea in the run up to an election, especially one that could control the US Senate. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2022, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2022-us-senate-races/922327/773 "2022-09-17T01:50:21Z")
Eh, objectively it makes sense — a once-star athlete running for US Senate. It needn’t imply a political endorsement, just sports news. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2022, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2022-us-senate-races/922327/774 "2022-09-17T01:57:56Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > A bit over one month later and 538 has the Dems with a 67% chance of the Senate and the GOP 77% for the House. The good (in my opinion) trend continues. 538 now has the GOP at a 71% chance of the House and the Dems at the same 71% to take the Senate. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2022, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2022-us-senate-races/922327/775 "2022-09-18T12:16:15Z")
As an act of preemptive capitulation, [some GOP candidates](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/18/us/politics/trump-republicans-midterm-election-results.html) have stated that they will not concede if they lose. Sarah Palin had these pearls of wisdom to offer about the Alaska ranked voting system: that it’s “very, very potentially fraught with fraud.” Very, very potentially. Wow, that’s almost nearly starting to sorta sound serious. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2022, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2022-us-senate-races/922327/776 "2022-09-20T17:00:41Z")
Kinda sorta maybe, to be sure. Very almost a little bit extremely alarming. Meanwhile, in the Buckeye State: > **['They don't recognize the party.' GOP group launches campaign against J.D. Vance](https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/elections/2022/09/08/ohio-senate-race-republican-group-launches-campaign-against-jd-vance/65470785007/)** > > The Republican Accountability Project is launching a campaign featuring GOP voters in Ohio who plan to vote for U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan in the Senate race. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2022, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2022-us-senate-races/922327/777 "2022-09-20T17:41:31Z")
And in Jawjuh: > **[Herschel Walker's bizarre move to lower expectations | CNN Politics](https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/19/politics/herschel-walker-debate-lower-expectations/index.html)** > > Herschel Walker is trying a novel approach in his race against Sen. Raphael Warnock in Georgia: Don't expect too much out of me, I'm just not that smart. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2022, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2022-us-senate-races/922327/778 "2022-09-20T17:57:05Z")
IMHO, this is a good strategy. I contend that due to decades of the right-wing media’s portrayal of Democrats as evil inhuman monsters, many traditional R voters see voting D as drastic an act as having a sex change. What is needed is a media campaign explicitly showing regular people like them (OK, WASP rural/sub-urban) stating “I’m your Mother, I’m your Brother, I’m your Minister, I’m your Doctor, I’m your Mechanic, and I vote Democrat”. They need to be shown that it is OK to vote for candidates who don’t have an R next to their name. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2022, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2022-us-senate-races/922327/779 "2022-09-20T18:23:13Z")
A bunch of them voted for Sherrod Brown a couple years back, it’s not _that_ hard to get them to vote D. Ohio’s certainly leaning red, but we’re not locked in, yet. I know people who are hardcore MAGAs, who believe the “Big Lie”, who think that Biden is a Chinese plant to install Marxism into our country, but who are still planning on voting for Ryan over Vance. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2022, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2022-us-senate-races/922327/780 "2022-09-20T21:49:50Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > And in Jawjuh: > > [https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/19/politics/herschel-walker-debate-lower-expectations/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/19/politics/herschel-walker-debate-lower-expectations/index.html) He might as well say the quiet part out loud: “I’m not smart but don’t worry, I have a lot of white folks on my team who will do my thinking for me”. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2022, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2022-us-senate-races/922327/781 "2022-09-20T22:18:45Z")
Candidates are essentially graded relative to expectations in debates so lowering expectations before a debate is pretty common. Walker is just doing that but to an extreme. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2022-us-senate-races/922327.md?page=38) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2022-us-senate-races/922327.md?page=40)