Senate Democrats are feeling frustrated and disappointed as their effort to retake the majority appears to have fallen short once again.

The likelihood of being relegated to the minority for the next couple years hit home Wednesday when Democratic challenger Sara Gideon conceded to Sen. Susan Collins (R) in the blue state of Maine.

While it now appears Democratic nominee Joe Biden will probably eke out a victory in the presidential race, Democrats were hoping for a bigger night — especially after failing to flip the Senate in 2016 and 2018.

John Hickenlooper, the former governor of Colorado and the only Democratic challenger to officially knock off a Senate Republican incumbent on Tuesday, said, “I was hoping that we would sweep to victory with a number of Senate wins.”

“We’re still cautiously optimistic, but it’s not the level of excitement I was hoping to wake up to,” he said.

Other Democratic strategists and aides expressed their dismay.

“I’m very disappointed, of course, but I also think it’s not entirely over. In Georgia, if that other race ends up going to a runoff, we could have two runoff elections in Georgia, which will determine the fate of whether we get to 50-50 or not,” said Mike Lux, a Democratic strategist.

Steve Jarding, a former aide to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said, “Most people thought that Democrats were going to pick up a couple more of what appeared to be these very vulnerable senators. “

“They’ve got to be horribly disappointed. They thought Biden would pull more. If the polls were remotely right and he could win by 6, 7 or 8 points, that should be enough a margin to pull some of these dead-heat races in for the Democrat,” he said.

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