A Pivotal Senate Race in North Carolina

[0] From the New York Times, I'm Michael Babaro.

[1] This is Daily.

[2] Today.

[3] In the battle for control of the Senate, it was the race with the highest stakes.

[4] Now, it's become the race with the highest drama.

[5] My colleague, Jonathan Martin, reports from North Carolina.

[6] It's Tuesday, October 20th.

[7] Jonathan, we spent a lot of time, I think understandably, talking about the presidential race.

[8] handful of Senate races are happening on November 3rd as well.

[9] And that's what we want to talk to you about.

[10] So give us the lay of the land when it comes to these races.

[11] Well, the Republicans currently have a three -seat majority.

[12] And so Democrats, if Biden does win, would have to net three seats to get a tie in which Kamala Harris, then the vice president, could break the tie.

[13] So that's what Democrats need, three seats.

[14] Now, it's a little more complicated because there is one Democratic seat that the Republicans are widely expected to pick up.

[15] And that's Doug Jones, who, of course, in 2017 beat Roy Moore in that special election.

[16] Well, Doug Jones is facing a difficult re -election in a deep red state this year.

[17] And so both parties are skeptical that he can hold on.

[18] So if he does lose, that would mean that Democrats have to net four seats.

[19] So that's where we start.

[20] We're really focused on the presidential race, obviously, for November 3rd.

[21] But the other thing we're looking at control of the U .S. Senate.

[22] Republicans...

[23] The most...

[24] competitive races.

[25] Some of them we weren't expecting to be that tight, including...