“ we shift the ground from where it was this time — seven democrats were running in states that obama did n’t carry — to an environment where seven republicans are running in states that obama did carry , ” said sen. roy blunt of missouri , a member of gop leadership
the leftward - tilting map means a gop - controlled senate could be short - lived if the party prevails on tuesday .
the gop lost 30 house seats in george w. bush ’s second midterm , but gained 8 seats in his first midterm for a net loss of 22 seats .
democrats got shellacked in 1994 , losing 54 seats in bill clinton ’s first midterm , but the party gained 5 house seats in 1998 , clinton ’s six - year - itch election , for a net clinton loss of senate democrats have long awaited the 2010 tea party wave to splash back on republicans during the 2016 election cycle .
in fact , obama is likely to have the worst midterm elections in a row .
obama won in both 2008 and 2012 : mark kirk of illinois , pat toomey of pennsylvania , ron johnson of wisconsin , rob portman of ohio , kelly ayotte of new hampshire and marco rubio of florida .
truman lost a total of 83 house seats during his two midterms ( 55 seats in 1946 and 28 seats in 1950 ) , while republican dwight eisenhower lost a combined 66 house seats in the 1954 and 1958 midterms .
the party lost 26 seats in ronald reagan ’s first midterm , but a mere 5 seats in his second midterm for a net loss of 31 seats .
text size - + reset after two years of obsessive focus on the teetering reelection prospects of red - state democrats , the attention is about to shift in a major way to blue - state republicans .