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Stacey Abrams, a rising star in the party after nearly winning the Georgia governors race last year, passed on a Senate run Tuesday despite a sustained and public recruitment. | John Amis/AP File Photo

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The party is still looking for credible candidates in a handful of races needed to win back control of the chamber next year.

By JAMES ARKIN and BURGESS EVERETT

04/30/2019 07:14 PM EDT

Senate Democrats' bid to take back the majority is running into a big roadblock: Some of their most coveted recruiting targets are refusing to run.

After straining to defend seats in bright-red states in 2018, Democrats are focused on picking off Republicans to claim the Senate majority in 2020. But, so far, a number of the partys high-profile recruits have said no to Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the partys campaign arm.

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Stacey Abrams, a rising star in the party after nearly winning the Georgia governors race last year, passed on a Senate run Tuesday despite a sustained and public recruitment that included multiple meetings with Schumer. Hours later, Rep. Cindy Axne, who flipped a swing district last year, confirmed she was running for the House again and not challenging Iowa's first-term Republican senator, Joni Ernst.

Democrats havent struck out everywhere: Former astronaut Mark Kelly in Arizona was a huge get in a critical battleground state. But three Democrats in other key states have passed on Senate bids to run for president despite the crowded field, and the party has missed out on its top recruits in Georgia and North Carolina.

The Senate is not an appealing place for smart, talented candidates because its a broken institution. And Democrats have not yet offered a vision for how to fix it, aside from wringing their hands and wishing things were different, said Adam Jentleson, a longtime aide to former Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). Whats the pitch? 'Come here, do nothing and let Mitch McConnell eat your lunch every day?'

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, chairwoman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, denied she and Schumer had blown it. Democrats need to flip only a handful of seats, and they'll be in a position to get them, she said.

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We dont need all of these states to take back the majority. We just need three or four. And were going to do really well, Cortez Masto said. Just because we dont get somebody that youre aware of doesnt mean were not going to have somebody that can beat those Republican incumbents.

Schumer declined to say whether Abrams decision was a personal rejection of him but said the party will find a strong candidate to take on freshman Sen. David Perdue.

Were going to win in Georgia. And we have lots of good candidates in many different states, including Georgia, Schumer said.

Interviews with nearly a dozen Democratic senators and strategists revealed little overt concern about the status of the Senate map. It's early in the cycle, they said, and the party has promising prospects in battleground races who havent announced yet. Sens. Jacky Rosen of Nevada and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, the two Democrats who flipped seats last cycle, announced in July and September of the year before the election, respectively.

But privately, some Democrats are alarmed by the lack of candidates.

We really need to get some good recruits as quickly as possible, one Democratic strategist who is a veteran of Senate races said, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to be candid. The strategist expressed optimism about the national political environment, adding: We just need enough candidates to ride the wave if it comes.

The party's path to the majority is narrow. Democrats have to win a net three seats to flip the Senate if they win the presidency and four if they dont. Only two incumbent Republicans are running in states Hillary Clinton carried in 2016, and Democrats are defending two seats in states President Donald Trump won, including in solidly Republican Alabama. That means Democrats will have to win multiple races in red states to win the chamber.

Some Democrats are concerned that the party's focus on its upcoming presidential nominating process is distracting from the groundwork needed for its Senate efforts.

I worry a little bit that the activists and donors and regular Democrats across the country haven't quite internalized the importance of taking back the Senate, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said. But theres a fair amount of time to make that argument.

Republicans have jumped at criticizing Democrats for the missed recruits and are optimistic about keeping their majority.

Look at the map. Look at the states that Democrats were hoping to contest, including the states that have sort of been Republican-leaning. They havent gotten their top tier candidates, Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) said. And it all starts with good candidates if they have any hope of winning in some of these places.

Democrats counter that Republicans havent had recruiting success either: They have yet to lock down candidates in Michigan and New Hampshire to challenge Democratic incumbents and could face competitive primaries in Kansas and Alabama that could complicate races in red states. But those factors alone are unlikely to cost the GOP its majority.

Democratic senators also said they would soon have recruits to announce that would rebut the GOPs narrative. And they said some of the Democrats who have passed on Senate races to run for other offices, including the presidency, could change their minds and transform the landscape. That list includes former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, former Rep. Beto O'Rourke of Texas and Montana Gov. Steve Bullock. Hickenlooper and O'Rourke spurned calls to run for Senate to seek the presidency, and Bullock appears likely to enter the presidential race soon instead of challenging GOP Sen. Steve Daines.

Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, a former DSCC chair, said "it's early enough" in the cycle that if their presidential bids flame out, "then some of them may opt in to an opportunity for the Senate.

In Georgia, Democrats turned to other options after Abrams passed. Teresa Tomlinson, the former mayor of Columbus, plans to run, and Sarah Riggs Amico, who ran for lieutenant governor in 2018 alongside Abrams, is considering a campaign. She said in a statement Tuesday that dysfunction paralyzing Washington is actively harming Georgia workers and families, and we cant allow it to go unchallenged.

Perdue said he's still preparing for a competitive election, even without Abrams' star power in the race.

"We're going to run against somebody from the Democratic side that's going to be well-funded, and they're going to espouse these radical, social agenda that they're trying to perpetrate right now," he said. "So Im geared up."

Axnes decision to pass on the Iowa Senate race was viewed by Democrats as much less significant. Axne didnt publicly express interest in the Senate despite meeting with party leaders to discuss it and few Democrats in Iowa or Washington expected her to run. Others are considering runs, including Theresa Greenfield, a businesswoman who grew up on a farm in the state, and J.D. Scholten, a former professional baseball player who narrowly lost to Rep. Steve King last year. Some Democrats view both as better recruits.

And Democrats have had other successes. In Texas, MJ Hegar, an Air Force veteran who narrowly lost a House race in 2018, is running against Sen. John Cornyn, though she could face a primary against Rep. Joaqun Castro, who is expected to decide this week whether to run.

In North Carolina, state Attorney General Josh Stein was seen as a top-tier recruit, but passed early on challenging GOP Sen. Thom Tillis. Democrats are still searching for a candidate, but several state legislators and former elected officials are seen as potential recruits.

Democrats acknowledge Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) will be difficult to beat but argue she is more vulnerable than ever. Theyve yet to land a candidate in the race, but state House Speaker Sara Gideon and former state House Speaker Hannah Pingree are considered strong options. And there is a pot of nearly $4 million raised by activists after Collins voted last year to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court waiting for the Democratic nominee.

In the past four years, Democrats have struck out with boldface names in high-profile races: Russ Feingold in Wisconsin, Phil Bredesen in Tennessee and Ted Strickland in Ohio. Some Democrats argue that the over-reliance on those types of candidates should come to an end.

We sometimes are way too obsessive about getting big-big-name recruits," Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said. "Our big-name recruits in previous cycles havent done so hot.

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