34 seats are up for election in 2016. for democrats, the stakes are high since they lost control of the senate in the 2014 midterms. in next year s race, the republicans are tasked with defending 24 seats in the upper chamber. democrats have to hold on to ten more seats up for grabs. the republicans control 54 seats, democrats 44 and independents two. according to politico, al franken has helped raise money for democratic candidates in washington state, illinois, ohio and nevada. he will also join us on the last word this thursday which you will, of course, not want to miss. joining us now is the senior political editor for buzz feed news. it says buzz head in the prompter. nbc universal has made an investment in buzz feed. matthew iglesias and stuart stevens are back with us. 2016 looks like a much, much better year for democrats. much more favorable for
investment in buzz feed. matthew iglesias and stuart stevens are back with us. 2016 looks like a much, much better year for democrats. much more favorable for democrats, as you noted, republicans are defending a lot more states. it s difficult for them. although, matt iglesias wrote a good piece about this where republicans do have built-in advantages here. one of them that he noted that i think is true and doesn t get as much attention as it should is republicans at the state level actually show a lot more ideological flexibility in the candidates that they nominate. we ve heard a ton about the tea party and kind of the right wing populist elements that are driving these races. and that s true in many races and it s certainly true in the national presidential primaries so far as we ve seen. by at the state level, we actually do see republicans nominated pragmatic candidates who can appeal to moderate and
candidate for governor just flipped another blue state red. is it an early warning sign for the democratic party? if the election were held today. a new nbc news/wall street journal poll showing hillary clinton would beat all gop candidates but one. tied with ben carson, both getting 47% of the vote. a year ago, did you think you would be leading the presidential race? no. no, i didn t think that. i think that ben just doesn t have the experience. i have experience. political season is always a little bit of a silly season. some of the people who aren t winning are looking around at the people who are winning and they re like that guy? everybody is a conservative. they just don t know it yet. no. i m a democratic socialist. do you see a candidate out there? not in great measure. do i think it s time to have some of the other republican candidates drop out? yes. i m not trying to run for the head of the school board. none are going to drop o
if the election were held today. a new nbc news/wall street journal poll showing hillary clinton would beat all gop candidates but one. tied with ben carson, both getting 47% of the vote. a year ago, did you think you would be leading the presidential race? no. no, i didn t think that. i think that ben just doesn t have the experience. i have experience. political season is always a little bit of a silly season. some of the people who aren t winning are looking around at the people who are winning and they re like that guy? everybody is a conservative. they just don t know it yet. no. i m a democratic socialist. do you see a candidate out there? not in great measure. do i think it s time to have some of the other republican candidates drop out? yes. i m not trying to run for the head of the school board. none are going to drop out, they re all going to mutiny, it s going to be super fun. yeah. good evening, i m alex wagner in for lawrence
talking about. all right. we have to leave it there. thank you to matthew, sam, casey, and sahil. that s all for now. alex will be back at noon on monday. have a great thanksgiving, everyone. andrea mitchell reports is up next. you get your coffee here. you get your hair cut here. you find that certain thing you were looking for here, but actually you get so much more. when you shop at these small local businesses, you support all the things that make your community great. the money you spend here, stays here. in this place you call your neighborhood. this saturday is small business saturday. get out and shop small.