Tuesday, September 06, 2016

Race of the Day- Oklahoma U.S. Senate

62 Days Until Election Day

Status: Republican Incumbent
2012 Presidential Result: Red State (South)

Outlook: Safe Republican

Since being elected to Congress, during his first ever race for office in 2010, Republican James Lankford has gotten accustomed to facing the voters every two years.  The GOP primaries have proven to be far more competitive than the general elections in what is now among the most reliably Republican states in the country. Easily beating a highly-touted primary opponent in 2014, Lankford cruised in the general election and went on to capture a U.S. Senate seat in a special election. Now, Lankford is running for a full term in the regularly scheduled election and will get a break from campaigning for a few years after this. That is, if he does not decide to seek a different office.

Lankford, with strong ties to the Southern Baptist community across the nation, is of course heavily favored to win reelection. The only Democrat to line up to face him was activist Mike Workman, a former teacher, who despite his last name, failed in his bid as the Democrats' 2014 nominee for Oklahoma Labor Commissioner. The party's nominee does not have an official campaign website at this point, but he still appears to be more organized than one recent party nominees there for Senate, who somehow won a primary, and remained completely invisible.

Lankford campaign link:

http://jameslankford.com/

 Senate races predicted thus far:
7 D (5 Safe, 1 Likely, 1 Leans)
19 R (6 Safe, 5 Likely, 5 Leans, 3 Tossup)

Overall predicted thus far: 43 D, 49 R