The Democrats’ one neat trick to try to win a Senate majority | CNN Politics

The battle for the Senate in 2026 comes with some fascinating wrinkles: In a trio of races — Idaho, Nebraska and South Dakota — the Democrat has dropped out to help an independent try to win in a red state. But this strategy has already been attempted in a handful of Senate races in recent years, and it has yet to actually work — at least at the federal level. It remains unlikely. But history suggests it’s worth it to keep trying. It at least gives Democrats a better shot of depriving Republicans of seats in states where a Democratic nominee probably wouldn’t have a chance at winning. In fact, when this setup has been tried, Republicans have had some of their worst Senate results in recent history in those states. The big examples of this strategy in recent years have been the independent candidacies of Kansas’ Greg Orman in 2014, Utah’s Evan McMullin in 2022 and Nebraska’s Dan Osborn in 2024. Osborn, a Navy veteran and union organizer, is trying again in 2026. He’s joined in Idaho by Todd Achilles, a former state House member, and in South Dakota by Brian Bengs, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who previously ran for Senate as a Democrat. Osborn’s race tw