New Senate map shows Republicans are increasingly vulnerable

WASHINGTON — Amid the constant political chaos of 2020, there have been a few consistencies. One of them has been a growing Democratic advantage in this fall’s congressional races, particularly the Senate.

For Democrats, the potential for pickups is growing and affecting some places where a tight general election race is not a normal occurrence. From the Mountain West to the South, the list of competitive Senate races for the GOP looks different this year.

Going into this election cycle Republicans knew they were going to be defending a challenging map. There are 23 Republican seats on the ballot this fall and only 12 for the Democrats. But aside from those differences, the changes in battlegrounds since the beginning of the year have been remarkably one-sided.

In January — when the Cook Political Report released its first race ratings for the year — it showed three Republican seats that were rated “Toss Up” or worse, while Democrats had one seat that was “Toss Up” or worse.