As the critical midterm elections taking place on Tuesday approach amid surging Republican momentum around the nation, Democrats are rationalizing the coming “red wave” or are simply pretending it isn’t coming.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) appeared on the Sunday morning broadcast of ABC’s “This Week” and said that he believes Democrats have a “very strong pathway” to add seats to its razor-thin majority. The two parties are currently tied in the Senate with 50 seats each. Democrats control leadership and committees in the upper chamber due to the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris.
Host Martha Raddatz pointed out to Booker that liberal polling analysis outlet FiveThirtyEight has changed its prediction of Senate control from previously estimating Democrats had a 71% chance to hang on to a majority. With two days to go until Election Day, the forecast shifted to a 55% chance that Republicans would take over the Senate. Raddatz asked Booker: “What happened?”
Booker started his response by making the standard excuse for the likelihood that the GOP will retake control of both houses of Congress. He said, “Look, the party in the White House usually loses during midterms but the reality is, we still have a very strong pathway not just to keeping the Senate but really picking up seats.”
Booker said that he believes Democrats have a solid chance of picking up seats in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and North Carolina.
He added he thinks that Democrats are “bucking what are usual trends.” He then pivoted quickly to the standard Democratic talking points of being against President Donald Trump and voting to “save democracy.”
Booker said that his party will attract voters by “protecting unions,” and “lowering health care costs.” Of course, he also tossed in the pro-abortion position held by virtually every Democrat, saying the party wants to “protect fundamental freedoms like the right to control your own body.”
New RealClearPolitics Senate Projection R+4 seats pic.twitter.com/K4yvR7ofRT
— Jeff Essmann (@EssmannJeff) November 5, 2022
The reality is actually not so positive for Democrats regarding the Senate. Regarding the states Booker mentioned, Republicans are projected by RealClearPolitics (RCP) to win all three. In addition to retaining those three GOP seats, RCP projects Republicans will pick up four additional seats to retake the Senate majority, 54 seats to 46.
The four states where RCP projects Republican pick-ups in the Senate are Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and New Hampshire.
