In a blow to Democrats, one of the Senate seats they thought they would most likely gain is now favored for Republicans, according to a WTHR/HPI poll. And without the seat, their odds of retaking the Senate are almost nil.
Republican Rep. Todd Young is now leading Democrat Evan Bayh, former senator and two-term governor, by 46 to 41 percent statewide, according to a WTHR/HPI poll.
Just three days before, a Monmouth University poll showed Bayh and Young tied with 45 percent of the vote.
Such results are light years removed from those in July, which almost universally showed Bayh, 60, leading with percentages in double-digits over three-termer Rep. Young.
Both are vying for Republican Sen. Dan Coats seat, who announced he won't run for re-election.
Pundits and Democrats alike cited Indiana as one of the Democrats' likeliest pickups in the Senate now controlled by Republicans by 54 seats to 46 seats.
With Republican Sens. Mark Kirk of Illinois and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin considered underdogs in their re-election bids, the Hoosier seat was widely considered the third most likely to fall into Democratic hands in Tuesday's election.
That would reduce the Republican edge in the Senate to 51 seats. With just one other GOP-held seat falling, the Democratic case went, the Senate would be tied 50-50 and a Democratic Vice President Tim Kaine would cast the tie-breaking vote for Democratic control, if Hillary Clinton wins the presidency.
The latest polling, however, raises considerable doubts about that scenario. If Young keeps the Indiana seat in Republican hands, the odds on a Democratic takeover of the Senate fall precipitously.
“Some $30 million in outside ads slamming Bayh for seeming to abandon Hoosiers in the last year of his term to job-shop and vote in ways that appeared to favor those he met with as well as questions about where he lived and how much time he spent in Indiana,” Ed Feigenbaum, editor of the much-read Indiana Legislative Insight newsletter, told me.
Young spokesman Jay Kenworthy said, “He voted for Obamacare and then went to work for a lobbying firm that helped clients trying to get relief from Obamacare. From enriching himself to where his residence was, it comes down to who you are going to trust with Bayh.”
In the last few weeks, Young has picked up the endorsements of three of Indiana’s major newspapers: the Indianapolis Star, the Evansville Courier Press, and the Fort Wayne News Sentinel.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax.
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