The Nation, check out our latest issue. Subscribe to Support Progressive Journalism The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter. Sign up for our Wine Club today. Did you know you can support The Nation by drinking wine? Democrats have to grab a bunch of Republican-held US Senate seats in 2022 in order to expand control of a chamber that has proven to be the biggest barrier to the progressive changes proposed by the Biden administration and approved by the House of Representatives. Some 2022 races are already understood as essential. Everyone knows that Democrats have to go big in Pennsylvania, where Republican Senator Pat Toomey’s decision not to seek reelection has created an open-seat race in a state where the party won the governorship in 2018 and the presidential race in 2020. The same goes for Wisconsin, where Democrats are already lining up to take on Senator Ron Johnson, a wild-eyed conspiracy theorist who hasn’t yet announced that he will seek a new term but is being encouraged to run by Donald Trump. Open seats in North Carolina and Ohio will also be seriously contested.