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Senate Democratic leaders believe they have a path to winning the majority in November, though it’s one with very little wiggle room. The party got a new burst of confidence when former Rep. Mary Peltola announced Monday she’ll run for the Senate in Alaska. Her bid gives Democrats a critical fourth candidate with statewide recognition in states where Republican senators are seeking reelection this year. Nationally, Democrats must net four seats to edge Republicans out of the majority. That possibility looked all but impossible at the start of last year. And while the outlook has somewhat improved as 2026 begins, Democrats still almost certainly must sweep those four seats. First they must settle some contentious primaries, the mark of a party still struggling with its way forward after Republicans took full control of Washington in 2024. Importantly, they must also beat back challenges to incumbents in some of the most competitive states on the map. And though some of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s top Democratic Senate recruits were lauded for their statewide success in pivotal states, some are nearly 70 or older, hardly the key to a lasting Democratic transformation. Republicans doubt the chances Democrats can pull off such a task, considering most of the 2026 contests are in states that Donald Trump easily won in 2024. Still, independent voters have drifted in Democrats’ direction over the past year, according to a new Gallup poll, a slight breeze at Democrats’ back they didn’t expect a year ago when there was little path at all. “I say it’s a much wider path than the skeptics think, and a much wider path than it was three months ago and certainly a year ago,” Schumer told The Associated Press Tuesday. Republicans currently hold 53 seats, while the Democratic caucus has 47 members, including two independents. 4 statewide candidates in GOP-held states Schumer argues that Peltola, elected twice statewide to Alaska’s at-large House seat, puts the typically Republican-leaning state in play as a potential pickup for Democrats. It’s a development similar to other states where Schumer believes Democrats have recruited strong candidates: former three-term Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio, former two-term Gov. Roy Cooper in North Carolina and two-term Gov. Janet Mills in Maine. But they hardly represent a quartet of guarantees. Brown, a longtime pro-labor progressive in increasingly GOP-leaning Ohio, and Peltola, who was elected during a special election in 2022, both lost reelection in 2024. Mills, finishing her second term as governor, faces a competitive primary challenge from progressive veteran and oyster farmer Graham Platner. None of the four had runaway popularity with voters in their states in 2024. Right around half of voters had somewhat or very favorable views of all of them, with Cooper slightly higher and Brown slightly lower, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of the electorate. Age remains another issue. After President Joe Biden, in his early 80s, withdrew from the 2024 race amid concerns he was too old to serve, Democratic Senate leadership hasn’t changed course. Schumer, 75, has recruited candidates who are older, with several top recruits – including Mills and Brown – well into their 70s. “Voters sent a very clear message in 2024 that they’re sick of the gerontocracy. They’re sick of Democrats putting up old candidates and that they want some new blood,” said Lis Smith, a national Democratic strategist. “And some of the recruits, like in Maine, seem to completely ignore the message that voters sent in 2024.” Schumer said winning back the Senate is paramount over all else. “It’s not young versus old. It’s not left versus center. It’s who can best win in the states,” he said. “So, these are all really good candidates, and I don’t think you look at them through one narrow prism. You look at who can win.” Primaries and party tensions Before Democrats can test their general-election appeal, they must navigate some…