Republicans have an edge going into many close races in tomorrow’s
mid-term federal election and are poised to take control of Congress,
according to a report prepared by Outdoor Industry Association
government affairs team last week.

The report shows the OIA Political Action Committee invested $26,000 backing five Democratic and three Republican candidates running in Tuesday’s mid-term House races and six Democrats and two Republicans running in Senate races.

All 435 seats in the House of Representatives are up for re-election. Currently, Republicans control 233 seats and Democrats control 199 seats, with 3 vacancies. Republicans are projected to add between five and seven seats to their majority on Nov. 4.

In the Senate, Republicans need a net gain of six seats to win the majority in the Senate and control of both chambers of Congress. 

Of the 36 Senate seats up for election, 15 are considered Safe Republican, or Likely Republican, by Real Clear Politics, with Louisiana now rated as Lean Republican. There are 11 seats considered Safe Democrat or Likely Democrat. No states are currently rated as Lean Democrat.

Nine seats considered toss-ups could go either to the Democrat, the Republican, or in Kansas, an Independent. The key toss-up races in the Senate to watch are Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina and New Hampshire.

The OIA Political Action Committee backed five Democratic and three Republicans in House races and six Democrats and two Republicans in Senate races. An OIA summary showing: how much the PAC contributed to each candidate, the prognosis for those races; a list of other races being monitored by OIA’s government relations staff; and an analysis of various post-election scenarios is available in this PDF.