Democrats abandon deep-red state Senate races, boosting independents

Democrats trying to unseat Republican senators in deep-red states have pursued a new strategy this year: dropping out.

The Democratic Senate nominees in Nebraska, Idaho and South Dakota — all heavily Republican states — withdrew from the ballot after their primaries, clearing the field for independent candidates. Some Democrats hope that these moderate independents will draw enough crossover support from Republicans and centrist voters who would never back a Democrat to make the races competitive.

[OG/description metadata, confirmed via page metadata: "Democratic Senate nominees in Nebraska, Idaho and South Dakota dropped out, clearing the way for independents. But Alani Bankhead in Montana declined to join them." Full body beyond the lead paragraph is behind the Post's metered paywall; the lead paragraph and dek above were retrieved and confirmed verbatim via direct fetch.]