The party faced disaster on Tuesday in Kansas primarily when Representative Roger Marshall, her preferred candidate, Kris Kobach, beat the former Secretary of State and a polarizing Conservative who both parties judge as a likely loser of November against Barbara Bollier, the Democratic recruit. Foreign groups threw $ 10 million into the race, with Democrats seeking Mr. Kobach to get on the November ballot and Republicans behind Mr. Marshall.
A Kobach victory would perpetuate the perception that the Republican majority, and the party celebrated the outcome of what Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, called a proxy war between his troops and that of Mr. Schumer.
“We swallowed it out, and I won and Schumer lost,” he said.
Yet Mr McConnell and other Republicans acknowledge that they have their hands full in their bid to retain the majority. They already plan to spend millions of dollars to get Mr. Marshall to support his tough primary, even in traditional Republican Kansas. The majority leader and other Republicans said they always knew it would be difficult considering the number of seats they had to defend, even before the pandemic hit them on the heels.
“This has always been a really challenging situation for us,” Mr McConnell said in an interview. “We have a lot of exposure, a lot of closed races, a lot of expenses on both sides. It’s a knife fight in an alley. ”
Democrats say their advantage was established months ago because they sorted through potential candidates and began deciding who would come behind.
“Approval decisions reflect a few different metrics: state support, potential for funding, and the ability to put together, for example, the strongest campaign in November,” said Lauren Passalacqua, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Jessica Taylor, who analyzes the senate races for the Cook Political Report, said Democrats found capable candidates, but claimed that antipathy for Mr. Trump was the main factor driving her powerful fundraising, and that his status would ultimately prove decisive in the Senate fight.
