Senate races

National Democrats are questioning Republican nominee for Massachusetts Senate Gabriel Gomez on a controversial tax deduction he took, in an effort to tie him to Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

A political action committee backed by former Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich has endorsed Gabriel Gomez in the race for Senate in Massachusetts.

A new poll released Thursday shows Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) holding just a six-point lead over Republican nominee Gabriel Gomez in the Massachusetts U.S. Senate race, suggesting the highly scrutinized special election may remain a close race.

The WBUR survey released Thursday shows Markey with a 41-35 percent advantage over Gomez among Massachusetts voters.

“Either way you look at it — with leaners or without leaners — you’ve got a race within single digits coming out of the primary,” says Steve Koczela, president of the MassINC Polling Group, in a statement. “You’ve got a competitive race.”

South Dakota has its first Democratic contender for the state's open Senate seat in Rick Weiland, whose decision to run could set up a primary rematch between him and former Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin.

Markey leads Gomez 52-35 in the new Suffolk University/7 News poll.

Republican Gabriel Gomez is distancing himself from a group for which he once acted as spokesman, his affiliation to which has become a central line of attack for Democrats in the Massachusetts Senate race.
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Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) is touting his work on telecom policy in his first ad of the general election campaign for Senate in Massachusetts.

West Virginia Secretary of State Natalie Tennant (D) leads the Democratic field for Senate in West Virginia; Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R), the only announced contender for the seat, seems to have taken a hit in her popularity over the past few months.

Former U.S. Attorney Matt Whitaker’s (R) decision to run for Senate in Iowa makes him the first Republican to jump into what could be a potentially crowded field. 

But some Republicans in the state are far from thrilled about the party's options after a number of top-tier candidates took a pass on the race.

“I have a hard time, with this current field, seeing any of them winning the general election,” Craig Robinson, a former political director for the Republican Party of Iowa, told The Hill. “It's going to be difficult.”

Former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown (R) leads every potential challenger in the Massachusetts gubernatorial race, according to a new poll.

The survey, from Public Policy Polling, could give Brown reason to find that race more appealing than challenging Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire, a race in which he's expressed interest.