In the last year, the U.S. Senate has seen veteran moderate member retirements on both sides of the aisle, including Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine). On Tuesday, the first moderate fell to a Tea-Party challenger, as two-term Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock (R-Ind.) defeated six-term incumbent Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.). Sen. Lugar, the two-time chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and 1996 candidate for president, becomes only the seventh Senate Republican in 30 years to lose a primary.
Republicans need to gain four seats to win control of the Senate. With the Defeat of Sen. Lugar, this race now moves from a likely Republican seat to a toss-up, as Mr. Mourdock will face three-term Rep. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.). Though Democrats have to defend 23 seats to Republicans' 10 seats, Republicans face toss-up races in four incumbent seats, including Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada. As a result, Republicans face a more difficult electoral road to winning control of the chamber.
Legislatively speaking, as moderate incumbents in both parties continue to field far right and left primary challenges, their policy positions increasingly shift rightwards and leftwards, respectively, to address those challenges. As a result, congressional compromise necessary to balance the budget, fund a multiyear transportation bill and reform the tax code becomes increasingly difficult, leading to more short-term gimmicks rather than long-term well thought out solutions.
AGC PAC continues to monitor congressional races for pro-construction candidates worthy of your support.
For more information, contact Jimmy Christianson at 703-837-5325 or christiansonj@agc.org.
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