On Sunday’s broadcast of CNN’s Inside Politics, CNN Senior Political Reporter Nia-Malika Henderson highlighted how Kay Hagan’s decision not to run for the Senate in North Carolina is yet another blow to Senate Democrats’ chances in 2016.
Along with the DSCC’s failure to recruit their preferred candidate Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania, Evan Bayh in Indiana, and others across the map, it’s been a bad summer for Senate Democrats.
TRANSCRIPT:
John King: Let’s head around the Inside Politics table and ask our great reporters to share a little bit from their notebooks. Nia-Malika Henderson?
Nia-Malika Henderson: The Senate Democrats need five net seats to take back the Senate and they very much obviously want to do this, but these attempts to gain back the Senate took something of a blow this last week when Kay Hagan, of course the former North Carolina Senator decided that she didn’t want to toss her hat in the ring and go up against Richard Burr in 2016.
Democrats thought it would be perfect, she’d be on the ballot there, Hillary Clinton presumably would be on the ballot as well. So now they’ve got to go to Plan B. Plan B might include somebody like Anthony Foxx, who of course is the Transportation Secretary, former Charlotte Mayor, he seems to suggest that he doesn’t want to do it either. At this point, Democrats are very much trying to recruit folks and hoping to turn some of these no’s into yes’s, particularly with Anthony Foxx.
John King: And if you end up at Plan C that’s usually not a good thing.