2014: A Hung Senate

There was talk in 2014 of there potentially being a hung Senate. Angus King of Maine promised to caucus with the majority party, Greg Orman of Maine was wishy-washy about who he'd caucus with, and Senator Larry Pressler said he'd bring his Seniority to whatever caucus served South Dakota best.

Pressler talked about the idea of him, Orman, King, and Sanders forming a caucus to decide who holds power in the Senate, though I think Sanders wouldn't be involved in that.

So lets say in 2014 Begich (D-Alaska), Hagan (D-North Carolina), and Udall (D-Colorado) win their races and Pressler (I-South Dakota) and Orman (I-Kansas) win their races.

The Senate is now

47 Democrats
49 Republicans
4 Independents


Sanders likely caucuses, but he also might get along with Pressler on defense issues. Orman, Pressler, and King come together to play kingmakers. What happens?
 
Well, King went to the Democrats after winning election, and stuck with that even after 2014 IOTL, so I have to assume he would if things had gone better for them, too. With him and Sanders, that gets us to 49 Dems. That leaves Pressler and Orman, but if either of them goes to the Democrats, then the Dems have the Senate, which means the other might as well, too. And considering that this whole election cycle would have to be considered a pretty mediocre one for the GOP, I'm inclined to think they'd side with the Democrats, although this would be such an unusual scenario that I can't be certain.

Regardless of the outcome, though, I can't imagine the Senate remaining hung for long. There'd be way too many concessions being flung towards Pressler and Orman for them to stay on the fence for more than a couple weeks at most.
 
Given that Greg Orman was the de facto Democratic nominee in Kansas that year, I'm pretty confident he'd caucus with the Dems. Him+Sanders+King would be enough to give the Democrats a Majority.
 
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