⁍ The death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has raised the stakes in the struggle for control of the U.S. Senate.
⁍ It has forced embattled Republican incumbents to choose between trying to appeal to moderate voters or hoping to fire up a conservative base.
⁍ Polls show Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden leading Trump ahead of the November election.
– With the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the next Supreme Court justice could shape the court’s decisions on everything from abortion to campaign finance rules. Here’s what you need to know: President Trump said he would nominate his choice to replace Ginsburg within days, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promised that the nomination would be voted on before the November election, reports Reuters. Democrats, however, want voters to weigh in before the election. “There are those people who have a hypocrisy meter and it just offends them,” says Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. “This is an enormous political conundrum,” says Paul Sracic, a political science professor at Youngstown State University in Ohio. “You’re going to lose someone in this.” Seven Republican incumbents and two Democrats are at risk of losing their seats in the November election, according to nonpartisan election trackers, and Democrats would need a net gain of three seats to take control if Joe Biden unseats Trump, meaning a Vice President Kamala Harris would be on hand to break 50-50 ties in the Senate, reports Reuters. Mitt Romney and Lisa Murkowski, independent-leaning Republicans, have not commented publicly on whether they will support Trump’s choice, reports the Washington Post.
Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-ginsburg-senate/death-of-us-supreme-courts-ginsburg-raises-stakes-in-battle-for-senate-control-idUSKCN26A0XD