Thomas Schaller, Political Science, in The New York Times

With less than a year to go before Election Day 2014, three Southern Democrats in the U.S. Senate are up for re-election and Republicans are trying to capture all three seats, which would strengthen the party’s firm hold on the Senate in South.

Senators Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, and Kay Hagan of North Carolina are the three Democrats up for election next year.

Political science professor Thomas Schaller was interviewed by The New York Times about the Democrats’ future prospects in the South.

“Democrats are fighting against history in most of the South,” Schaller said. “You can still elect a Democrat to a statewide office in the South,” he added, “if you have the right candidate, with the right biography, in the right cycle. And then hopefully you get some help from the Republicans’ nominating a bad candidate. But that’s a lot of ifs.”

The article also discusses how Democrats are hopeful in states such as Georgia in winning against conservative candidates who they deem too far to the right to be elected, but others point to Texas as an example that such candidates can win.

“My three-word answer to that is: Senator Ted Cruz,” Schaller said.

You can read the full article in The New York Times here.

Thomas Schaller is author of “Whistling Past Dixie: How Democrats Can Win Without The South.”

Tags: CAHSS, PoliticalScience