Elections for the United States Senate will be held on November 4, 2014, with 33 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate being contested in regular elections whose winners will serve six-year terms from January 3, 2015 to January 3, 2021. The 2014 United States Senate election in North Carolina will also be held on this date. These elections mark 100 years of direct elections of U.S. Senators.
Republicans will have the opportunity to gain control of the Senate in 2014. Assuming midterm trends hold true, they should also retain the House. Republicans need to take six seats in 2014 and luckily there are six prime Democratic targets: Begich in Alaska, Franken in Minnesota, Shaheen in New Hampshire, Hagan in North Carolina, Johnson in South Dakota and now Rockefeller in West Virginia.
North Carolina is considered a key swing state that leans red. In 2008, Kay Hagan defeated Elizabeth Dole with 53% of the vote in a Democratic wave year. Kay Hagan intends to seek re-election to a second term. Hagan will be running as a Democrat in a red-leaning purple state without the benefit of presidential-year voter turnout. President Barack Obama lost the state, the GOP flipped the governor’s mansion, and at least three seats currently held by Democrats will be occupied by Republicans come January. All that makes Hagan one of the most vulnerable Democratic senators. But the Tar Heel State’s evolving demographics favor her, and she has a good operation, strong campaign skills and time to stockpile money and goodwill as Republicans battle for the chance to take her on.
Top-tier potential challenger candidates in North Carolina are state speaker Thom Tillis, lawyer and former Ambassador to Denmark Jim Cain and four-term Rep. Patrick T. McHenry.
Other names being floated among GOP insiders are Rep. Renee Ellmers, Rep.-elect George E.B. Holding, Raleigh lawyer Kieran Shanahan and state Sen. Philip Berger. As an aside, the Republican National Committee is scheduled to hold its winter meeting in Charlotte, N.C.
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