Reid, Schumer rally supporters for key Senate race
The Senate’s top Democrats are making an 11th-hour push to help energize supporters in North Carolina, where voters could determine which party controls the upper chamber.
“It’s already been said [but] I’ll say it again: North Carolina today could make a difference in so many different ways: For [Democratic presidential nominee] Hillary Clinton, for Deborah Ross,” Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said during a Progressive Change Campaign Committee’s (PCCC) get-out-the-vote call.
{mosads}PCCC volunteers are making calls on Tuesday for Ross, a Democrat who is running to unseat Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.). The GOP senator is leading in the polls by an average of 2 points, according to RealClearPolitics.
Reid said that the North Carolina Senate race boils down to several major issues — including closing the gender pay gap and reforming student loan debt — and Ross is “on the right side of those issues.”
“What goes on in the vote today in North Carolina would help a very fine person, Deborah Ross,” Reid added.
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), expected to be the next Senate Democrat leader, argued lawmakers have a “moral obligation to move this nation forward,” saying a Democrat-controlled Senate could tackle immigration reform and criminal justice reform.
“We have a moral obligation to take back the Senate,” he told supporters on the call. “We need a Democratic majority in the Senate; we need it badly. The alternative of [Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell [R-Ky.] and gridlock will be terrible.”
Schumer, who would also became majority leader if Democrats win the majority, added that Burr “has been at [McConnell’s] side” to help block legislation.
“Deborah’s run a heck of a campaign. We all know that North Carolina a tough state,” he said. “So we really need this kind of help.”
Democrats need to take back five seats — or four if they retain the White House — to win control of the upper chamber. Roughly six Senate races are still considered “toss-ups” heading into Election Day, including North Carolina.
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