Mediaboss Marketing

Colorado Republican Congressman Cory Gardner, right, waves to supporters at an event to officially announce his candidacy for the U.S. Senate.(Photo: Chris Schneider, AP)

WASHINGTON Immigration reform could play a key role this year in about a half-dozen Senate races from Colorado to South Carolina.

The outcome of those races will help decide which party controls the Senate and whether that chamber will be willing to take up an immigration policy overhaul again if the House fails to pass it in this session of Congress.

Democrats now have 53 seats in the Senate and the support of two independents who nearly always vote with them. Republicans hold 45 seats.

The Senate last year passed a sweeping, bipartisan bill that included provisions to beef up security at the southwest border while also offering a pathway to citizenship for many of the nation's 12 million undocumented immigrants.

If the House doesn't act before the current two-year session of Congress ends in January, the Senate immigration bill will expire and efforts to enact reform will have to begin again.

Two of the Republicans who voted for the comprehensive bill last summer Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee are facing primary challenges from Tea Party candidates who have denounced the senators' support. Graham may be a bigger target because he was one of the bipartisan "Gang of Eight" senators who helped craft the Senate bill.

In Georgia, where the retirement of Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss has left an open seat, GOP candidates are battling each other over who is the biggest opponent of the Senate bill. The three House members running in the primary are all on record as favoring the deportation of "dreamers" young immigrants brought to the United States as children.

At the same time, Democratic Sens. Mark Udall of Colorado, Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana are facing strong competition from Republicans who oppose a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. All of the Senate Democrats voted for the bill last summer.

The Colorado race that pits Udall against Republican Rep. Cory Gardner could be the biggest test of all for the power of immigration reform to sway voters, said Jennifer Duffy, who analyzes Senate races as senior editor for the non-partisan Cook Political Report.

Original post:

Immigration could play key role in Senate races