Capitol Hill lawmakers are always running or angling for something.
There’s the midterm elections next week, of course. Then there’ll be the leadership elections in January when the new Congress convenes, and among the first decisions will be to decide who will lead each party in the House and Senate.
Then in two years _ though race has long since begun _ there’s 2016, the presidential year, and a handful of Senate Republicans are weighing their chances.
But it’s also a campaign year for Congress when the map will look very different from the current cycle, in the Senate anyway.
This year, Democrats have had to defend 21 seats; Republicans, 15, and the GOP could very well flip control in the chamber. But in two years, the GOP will be defending 24 Senate seats and Democrats just 10.
A big role that year will fall to the senators who get tabbed to manage their party’s effort. Roll Call reports that Democratic queue could grow pretty long.
Among those said to be interested:
Sens. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Jon Tester of Montana, Chris Coons of Delaware, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Sherrod Brown of Ohio.