Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball website has moved the Arkansas Senate race from “leans Republican” to “tossup.”
That rating switch, made on Thursday, comes in light of a number of recent polls showing Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) leading Rep. Tom Cotton (R-AR), the presumptive Republican nominee in the race for Pryor’s seat.
“It’s become clear over the past few months that Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR), despite the increasing Republican lean of his state, has been holding his own, or better, against Rep. Tom Cotton (R, AR-4),” Sabato’s Crystal Ball managing editor Kyle Kondik wrote in a post on the ratings change.
Three of the recent polls have shown Pryor with a double-digit lead over Cotton which has prompted Cotton to take a more positive approach to campaigning where he’s released multiple ads highlighting his background his background. Cotton’s campaign has also released an internal campaign poll showing the race in a near perfect dead heat.
