CHICAGO, Ill. – The chair of the Democrats’ Senate campaign committee says the party’s national nominating convention helps down-ballot in the battle for the Senate majority “because it is about enthusiasm, turning voters out.”
But Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, who’s steering the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for a second straight election cycle, tells Fox News Digital it’s understandable that three Democratic incumbents facing especially difficult re-elections this year are skipping the convention to stay home in their states.
“Every candidate is going to make their own decision as to where they need to be, and certainly some candidates would just rather just be in their state talking to voters in their state,” Peters said.
The stage is prepared at the United Center ahead of the Democratic National Convention, on Monday Aug. 18, 2024, in Chicago. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Democrats currently control the Senate 51-49, but are defending 23 of the 34 seats up for grabs this autumn.
One of those seats is in West Virginia, a deep red state that former President Trump carried by nearly 40 points in 2020. With moderate Democrat-turned-Independent Sen. Joe Manchin, a former governor, not seeking re-election, flipping the seat is nearly a sure thing for the GOP.
Republicans are also aiming to flip seats in Ohio and Montana, two states Trump comfortably carried four years ago. And five more Democratic-held seats up for grabs this year are in crucial presidential-election battleground states.
Incumbent Democratic Sens. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Jon Tester of Montana, and Jacky Rosen of Nevada are skipping the convention.
But Peters highlighted that “they are all very experienced candidates and incumbents. They know what’s best, and they’re doing what they think is best for them and their state.”
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The National Republican Senatorial Committee, the DSCC’s rival, argued that Brown, Rosen and Tester couldn’t run away from their Senate races by not attending the convention.
NRSC communications director Mike Berg told Fox News that all three senators “have all voted with Kamala Harris 100% of the time on tie breaking votes she has cast as vice president. So it doesn’t really matter whether they attend the convention or not, they own the record.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz greets Vice President Kamala Harris as she arrives on stage during a campaign rally at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, on Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
The Democrats’ convention kicked off on Monday four weeks and one day after President Biden’s blockbuster announcement that he was ending his 2024 re-election bid and backing Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him at the top of the ticket.
Harris and Democrats have been riding a wave of momentum in both polling and fundraising ever since.
“What happens at the top of the ticket is going to have a big impact” on the Senate races, Peters said.
“Our candidates in all of our battleground states have been consistently above the Republican opponent, primarily because of candidate quality. They’re running against seriously flawed Republican candidates.”
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Peters touted: “We saw good, strong polling early on. But now, after the change, we’ve seen that polling actually expand, and primarily because of the enthusiasm we’re seeing. More people are excited about getting out to vote, engaged in the process, and we’re confident that when they look at the contrast between our Democratic incumbent or candidate versus Republicans that are flawed, we are going to be very successful on Election Day.”
Sen. Gary Peters, the chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, is interviewed by Fox News Digital, at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, on Aug. 19, 2024. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
And Peters is confident that the enthusiasm coming out of this week’s convention, combined with what he called a “strong ground game,” is “how we win and hold the majority.”
Peters steered the DSCC last cycle, when the Democrats also faced an unfavorable map and defied expectations by holding on to the majority. But don’t expect him to stay on for a third straight cycle, as he faces his own re-election in 2026.
“It would certainly be unprecedented that a DSCC chair is also on the ballot given the fact, as DSCC chair, I’m out there helping all of the candidates who are running,” he said.