Reid: Dems would be ‘fine’ if election today

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) claimed Democrats would keep control of the Senate if the election were held Tuesday, despite growing sentiment among handicappers that Republicans would triumph.

Reid acknowledged that Senate Democrats might lose seats, but he said he would keep his job as majority leader if the election took place now instead of on Nov. 4.  

{mosads}“I think the feeling [is], we’re doing quite well,” he told reporters. “We feel we’re doing OK, that if the election were held today, we would be fine.

“We’re not going to be boasting with anybody here about which state does what, but we feel pretty good about where we are,” the majority leader added. 

Reid cited a new poll released Tuesday showing Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), the Senate’s most vulnerable incumbent, with a slight lead over his Republican challenger, Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.).

A Talk Business-Hendrix College poll showed Pryor leading cotton 46 percent-43 percent. 

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Democrats’ messaging and political strategy guru, declared Tuesday that Democrats had turned the corner on the Affordable Care Act.

“This week, the talk is pay equity, not ACA,” he said, referring to the Affordable Care Act. “We’re going to have more and more weeks like that because we’re talking about thing that people really care about.”

The Senate will vote Wednesday on the Paycheck Fairness Act, which prohibits employers from retaliating against employees who make inquiries about colleagues’ pay.