Even as all eyes are on the Jan. 5 Senate runoffs in Georgia, the 2022 battle for the Senate has already begun.
As of right now, Republicans will be defending 21 of the 34 seats in 2022, Fox News noted. That could change if Sen. Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, a Republican running to serve out the last two years of former Sen. Johnny Isakson term, loses the runoff to Democrat Raphael Warnock.
In the other runoff, Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., will face Democrat Jon Ossoff.
Despite the fact that things would appear favorable in 2022 for the Democrats in Senate races, if Joe Biden takes over the White House, Fox News said the president’s party historically loses congressional races in their first midterm.
"The president's party typically does lose seats," noted Jessica Taylor, who covers Senate races for the Cook Political Report.
Arizona, Nevada, and New Hampshire appear to be possible GOP pickups. First-term Sen. Catherine Cortez Mastro is up for reelection in Nevada, which remains a key swing state, Fox News said.
Republicans in Arizona will be targeting Democrat Mark Kelly, who will serve the final two years of the late Sen. John McCain’s term. The GOP also sees Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., as possibly vulnerable.
Pointing to Arizona, Nevada, and New Hampshire, Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., the incoming Republican Senatorial Committee chairman, said that “those are clearly areas that we have a chance to pick up.”
“If you take states like Illinois and Connecticut, they’re really reeling and they’re mad at their government,” he said. “We have a shot across the country if we have good candidates and we raise our money and we run good campaigns.”