Senate GOP zeros in on 4 top races in 2024

National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Steve Daines (R-Mont.) told reporters Thursday morning that his only goal this election cycle was getting to 51.

• "All I know is what matters the most is the majority. And 51 is what we're focused on," he said.
• It comes after a rough 2022 election cycle for Senate Republicans, when Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) was at the helm.

Between the lines: With West Virginia considered in the bag for Republicans after Sen. Joe Manchin's (D) retirement, getting to 51 would mean winning just one of eight competitive senate races this year.

• That's assuming Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) hold on to their seats.

Zoom in: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told Politico, "You take polls around Labor Day and begin to decide where you're going to play. But we know where we're going to play for sure right now: Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland."

• That would mean ousting Democratic incumbent Sens. Jon Tester in Montana, Sherrod Brown in Ohio or Bob Casey Jr. in Pennsylvania, or winning an open seat in Maryland.

• Republican's recruitment of former Gov. Larry Hogan is the only reason the deep blue state of Maryland is seriously in play.
• Daines said he expects having Trump on the ballot to help them in Montana, as the state voted for the former president by 16 percentage points in 2020.

The intrigue: McConnell expressed less optimism about winning a seat in the battleground state of Arizona, where Trump ally and election denier Kari Lake is running against Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.)

• "You've got a quality candidate we think in Wisconsin, a quality candidate in Nevada who's got a tough primary apparently. And who knows about Arizona," McConnell told Politico.