Good morning. Sunday, April the 19th, I'm Ali Vels. It seemed unlikely just weeks ago, but the Democrats' odds of flipping the Senate this fall have increased.

Democrats can retake control of the Senate with a net gain of four seats,

and the influential Cook political report just moved exactly four races toward the Democrat side.

Georgia, where the incumbent John Ossoff is leading, is now leaning Democrat. North Carolina,

where former Governor Roy Cooper is running, now leaning Democrat, Ohio, where former

three-term Senator Sherrod Brown is likely to be the Democratic nominee, is now a toss-up,

which is an actual category, and even Nebraska, long-considered solid Republican turf,

has moved from solid Republican to likely Republican. The fact that Nebraska is shifting a little left is a telling

sign. Republicans still have the edge, by the way, overall in polling as it relates to the Senate

heading into the midterms, but it is narrowing. And Republicans know it, which is why with polling

showing the public's patience with Donald Trump becoming exhausted in the run-up to the midterms,

the GOP is looking for ways to get around the will of the people if the will of the people

turns against them at the ballot box in November and lock in their agenda before the clock runs out.

And the single biggest agenda item of all is the Supreme Court.

Justice Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito are 77 and 76 years old

respectively. Why are you putting me in the third box with them? That makes me like 74.

Both are reliably conservative. Both are part of the high court six to three supermajority

that's fundamentally reshaped American law on abortion, on guns,

and perhaps most importantly on executive power. And given their respective ages, both are

potentially approaching the end of their time on the bench. There's no rule as to how long you

can stay on the bench. You can stay there for your entire life if you want. But here's the

calculation that Republicans seem to be making. If either of those two justices retire while Donald Trump

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