UP FOR GRABS The state of the US Senate remains to be seen following next week’s elections (Photos: AFP/ImageBank)

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f the Republican Party manages to retain its edge in the US Senate the GOP might have Marco Rubio to thank for his last-minute decision to forgo political retirement and run for reelection in Florida.

At press time Rubio led his Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy by more than 5% in the Real Clear Politics (RCP) average poll.

But many of Rubio’s incumbent colleagues are not sitting as pretty as he is. With Republicans defending 24 of the 34 Senate seats up for grabs in next week’s elections the RCP poll shows Democrats may pick up the four seats necessary to erase the advantage Republicans have held since 2014.

Despite the tightness of the polls Nick Muzin CEO of the political-consulting firm Muzin Capitol Partners and a former deputy chief of staff for Texas senator Ted Cruz (whose seat is not up for election) is not the least bit gloomy.

The day we caught up with Muzin by phone he was catching a plane out of Florida after meeting with Rubio — just one of the Republican senatorial candidates Muzin has advised in this election cycle.

“We’ve had a good couple of weeks” Muzin says. “Things seem to be breaking in the right direction for us in a number of races once the party leadership decided to focus a lot of their resources on Senate and House races that turned out to be more competitive than we thought they would be.”

Wisconsin’s Ron Johnson and Illinois’s Mark Kirk are two Republican incumbents likely to lose their seats while four other Republicans — Pennsylvania’s Pat Toomey North Carolina’s Richard Burr New Hampshire’s Kelly Ayotte and Missouri’s Roy Blunt — are fighting for their political lives.

At least in Ayotte’s case Donald Trump’s last-minute surge may not provide sufficient coattails as Ayotte has already told the media that she pulled her support from Trump and will cast a write-in ballot for Trump’s running mate Mike Pence.

Muzin contends that every state is different and that even within the same state there are counties where Trump’s coattails provide an edge. Even though Trump belittled Rubio during the long and bitter Republican primaries Trump may help his former rival win the election there too.

“We’ve taken a position of live and let live” Muzin says. “In Florida the thought is that Donald Trump helps in the panhandle where he’s very popular. He’s less of a help in Miami where he’s unpopular with the Hispanics but that’s where Marco Rubio himself is strong.”

It can get more nuanced than that Muzin says.

“Some voters are not motivated by the presidential race but if we can at least get them to come out and vote for Marco they will likely vote for Trump as well. Some voters are Republicans who won’t vote for Trump under any circumstances but they’re certainly not going to vote for Hillary.”