Updated 09:49 AM EDT, Fri, Mar 29, 2024

Immigration Reform 2014: Reform Could Play Crucial Role in Senate Races Across Country

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The controversial issue of immigration reform could play a crucial role in about a half-dozen Senate races across the nation. 

Immigration reform is supported by a majority of Americans, and it will be a deciding factor for voters in many states in the 2014 midterm elections, according to Arizona Central. It will therefore determine which party controls the Senate, and whether or not the Senate will be willing to take up immigration reform again if the House fails to pass immigration reform legislation this year.

Democrats currently have 53 seats in the Senate, and the support of two independents who almost always vote Democratic. Republicans hold 45 seats. 

Immigration reform could play a big role in the Georgia Senate election, where GOP candidates are battling for the open Senate seat left by the retired Sen. Saxby Chambliss. The three House members running for his seat are all running as anti-immigration reform candidates, and are all on record as favoring the deportations of "dreamers," or young immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children. 

Senate Democrats in other states are also facing fierce competition from Republicans who oppose a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Democratic Sens. Mark Udall of Colorado is up against Republican Rep. Cory Gardner, who has denounced the Senate bill as "amnesty for illegal immigrants," and said it would only encourage more illegal immigration. Gardner has also opposed the Dream Act. 

"I can see immigration playing a major role in Colorado," said Jennifer Duffy, an editor for the non-partisan Cook Political Report. "Democrats will certainly use it to try to turn out Hispanic voters, and Democrats have done well in the state in recent elections. But it's far from a done deal for Udall. Colorado isn't a solid Democratic state. I can see room for a Republican to win."

Fourteen percent of Colorado's population of eligible voters are Hispanic, and Latino voters were crucial in the 2010 re-election of Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet. 

"There's no doubt this is going to be an extremely close race," said Craig Hughes, a partner at at Hilltop Public Solutions and campaign manager for Bennet in 2010. "But I think the Latino vote will be decisive for Udall's victory."

In South Carolina, Matthew Blanton, an organizer for the Evangelical Immigration Table, said a growing number of preachers and pastors in the Republican state are supporting immigration reform. 

He said the message pastors are spreading could help Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee--who both voted for the comprehensive immigration reform bill last summer--with the votes of conservative, evangelical Christians. 

"When we talk about the issue, people know that Senator Graham made a bold move by being part of the Gang of Eight," Blanton said.

Yet, Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), said Republicans are mistaken if they think Latinos will suddenly begin voting for Republican candidates. 

"This idea out there among Republicans that if they suddenly get behind amnesty that Latinos will flock to them doesn't seem to be the case," Mehlman said. "I think for Republicans what they risk is alienating their own base by supporting amnesty and mass immigration increases without any real promise of gaining large numbers of Hispanic voters."

Roy Beck, executive director of NumbersUSA, which opposed the Senate bill, said Democratic senators from conservative states are more at risk for supporting immigration reform because it goes against the views of many of their constituents, who are still anti-immigration reform. 

"Their support for the big comprehensive immigration reform bill is a big vulnerable point for every one of these Democrats who are in competitive races," Beck said.

"Will the Republicans in those races exploit that vulnerability? That I can't answer," he continued. "But if they're intent on winning, they should."

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