Watching the Alabama Senate race is nothing short of watching a political party in full meltdown mode. Anyone who tells you they know the outcome of the Alabama Senate race, where GOP sexual predator Roy Moore will appear on the ballot opposite Democrat Doug Jones, is either lying or delusional.
Given the circumstances, it’s worth remembering just how dependent Senate Republicans have already proven to be on turning to Vice President Mike Pence to cast a tie-breaking vote. He’s done it five times, “more than any other vice president during their first year of office in U.S. history,” writes the Washington Post. In fact, if you trimmed down the Senate GOP’s majority from 52-48 by just one seat—from Alabama, for instance—here’s a quick look at the issues Republicans would have failed to advance.
Without [Luther] Strange in the Alabama seat, Republicans would not have been able to repeal the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s arbitration rule last month. They wouldn’t have been able to open floor debate on the repeal of Obamacare in July. They wouldn’t have been able to reverse an Obama administration rule that prevented states from withholding family-planning dollars from Planned Parenthood and other clinics that provide abortions. And they wouldn’t have been able to confirm Betsy DeVos as secretary of education in February.
Simply put, every single vote would put Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in a tremendous bind, with the biggest binds coming on the most important pieces of legislation, like repealing health care from millions of Americans and providing a tax giveaway to the rich. Senate Republicans are barely functioning as it is.
A one-seat majority would also provide a major electoral upside for Democrats: for every party-line vote on a bill, attack ads could be made tagging every Republican senator with providing “the deciding vote.” Just think about someone like Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska anticipating an attack ad charging her with providing “the deciding vote that stripped thousands of Alaskans of life-saving health care coverage.” Murkowski voted against the GOP’s health care repeal when she was given a chance anyway, but the additional thought of an attack ad like that would haunt any Republican running for re-election in 2018, or even 2020.
If you want to help shave the Senate GOP majority by one seat, give $3 now to boost Doug Jones’ candidacy for Senate against sexual predator Roy Moore in Alabama.