Republicans optimistic about Senate chances despite Walker turmoil

New York – Leading Republican Enters Final Month Middle term Campaign grows increasingly optimistic that a Senate majority is within reach, even as dramatic family battles in Georgia cloud one of the party’s biggest pick-up opportunities .

While some Democrats rant on social media about the Republican Party’s apparent setbacks, party strategists have privately admitted that the Republican Party’s growing challenges may not outweigh their shortcomings. ing.

Evolving prospects are bound up with frank reality. Faced with the weight of history, broader economic concerns, and a president, Democrats have virtually no room for error. Joe Biden’s Weak standing. There is widespread agreement between both parties that the Democratic summer momentum in states such as Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin collapsed just five weeks before Election Day.

“There is no reason to be depressed, but a reason to be concerned,” said James Carville, a veteran Democratic strategist. “We looked like we had a little bit of momentum at the end of August.

This lukewarm outlook also comes at a time when the most important states face a string of Republican self-imposed setbacks in the 2022 midterm elections. This will determine the balance of power in the national and state legislatures.

Nothing is more obvious than Herschel Walker’s struggle in Georgia. report The Daily Beast claimed that anti-abortionist Walker paid for his girlfriend’s abortion in 2009. Walker called the accusations “complete lies” and said he would sue.

“It was all a lie,” Christian Walker replied on Tuesday.

The Republican establishment, including the Senate Leadership Fund, which is affiliated with Sen. Mitch McConnell, and former President Donald Trump himself on Tuesday staunchly backed Walker’s endorsement of ousting Democratic first-term Senator Raphael Warnock. . Walker’s campaign also reported significant fundraising achievements consistent with the latest allegations.

Steven Law, director of the Senate Leadership Fund and a close ally of R-Ky’s McConnell, said:

Law said the race in Georgia is becoming increasingly competitive, even as Democrats focus on Walker’s personal life. As is often the case, he said the political climate was predictably changing against the party that controls the White House.

“Certainly, voters seem to be returning to a more traditional medium-term mindset,” said Low.

If Republicans win even one Senate seat in November, they will control the Senate, which would give them the power to control judicial nominations and policy debates for the final two years of Biden’s term. Both party leaders believe the Republican Party is likely to take over the House.

Even in the face of such possibilities, it is too early to predict a Republican-dominated Congress.

Democrats are clearly on the offensive, spending billions of dollars trying to wrest Republican-held seats in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and North Carolina. Voter opposition to this summer’s Supreme Court decision to strip women of their constitutional right to abortion galvanized the base of the Democratic Party and led to a surge in female voter registration.

Republicans are most focused on Democratic incumbents in Arizona, Georgia, New Hampshire, and Nevada, but Republican officials say the Trump-backed candidates in Arizona and New Hampshire are being overwhelmed, leaving the party’s pick-up opportunities looming. I believe it is weakening.

“The Republican candidate they’re running is too extreme,” said JB Poersch, who heads the pro-Democratic Senate Majority PAC. “I think this still favors the Democrats.”

Meanwhile, the situation in battleground states is changing rapidly.

In Pennsylvania, Republican Senate candidate Mehmet Oz faced a difficult new problem this week, raised by a Washington Post article about medical products endorsed as a daytime TV star. Another news report by news site Jezebel detailed how his research killed hundreds of dogs, causing ripples all over his social media.

Still, Democratic officials acknowledge that the race has tightened significantly as the calendar shifts to October. White House officials are also concerned about the stamina of Democratic nominee John Fetterman as he recovers from a stroke in May.

“The Senate Republicans are off to a really bad start in October, but every election is going to be tough and they won’t take anything for granted,” said Michigan, who heads the Senate Democratic campaign. State Senator Gary Peters said.

Recent challenges for Republican senator candidates in Georgia and Pennsylvania dominated social media on Monday and Tuesday, according to data compiled by GQR, a polling firm that works with Democratic organizations. .

News stories about Walker’s abortion whistleblowers and Oz’s animal research have become the first and second most-reached news stories on Facebook and Twitter since they were published Monday, and are associated with the TV show “Sons of Anarchy.” We have surpassed the content you want. News about mobile abortion clinics and Kanye West.GQR used his listening tool NewsWhip Social.

In battleground state Nevada, the rhetoric of Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Mast has taken on more urgency lately as she fends off a fierce challenge from former state attorney general Adam Laxalt. Inside the White House, there is real fear that she could lose her reelection bid and give Republicans the only seat they need to claim a Senate majority.

“We are in big trouble, my friends,” Cortez Masto wrote in a fundraiser on Tuesday. “Experts say our election in Nevada could determine control of the Senate. I say yes – and now polls show Trump trails my opponent, who supports him, by one point.”

Democrats and their allies hope the backlash against the Supreme Court’s abortion decisions will continue to overcome the historic tendency for the party that controls the White House to almost always lose seats in Congress. The ruling Democrats are also facing deep voter pessimism about the country’s direction and Biden’s relatively weak approval ratings.

Traditional rules of politics were often broken during the Trump era. Over the past few years, Republicans may have abandoned Walker. But on Tuesday, they folded their arms behind him.

Law of the Senate Leadership Fund says Walker’s words that he didn’t pay for his ex-girlfriend’s abortion, despite clear evidence of a “get well” card containing Walker’s signature and check receipt. I believe in

He said voters “may have made mistakes in private life that affected him and his family, but Warnock made mistakes in public life in Washington that affected them and their families.” I believe that

But there were some signs of Republican concern on the ground in Georgia.

Martha Zoller, a popular Republican radio host in northern Georgia and a former congressional candidate, told the audience on Tuesday that the latest allegations suggest that Mr. Walker is his own “personal demon.” He said he needed to reset the campaign by candidly admitting what he had done to overcome it.

“He must fall to the sword. ‘I was a dog…and I asked forgiveness for that.’

Veteran Democratic strategist Josh Schwerin warned the party not to write off Republicans in Georgia.

“I wouldn’t say Walker is over. We’ve certainly seen Republican candidates in the last few cycles survive things they shouldn’t have survived,” Schwerin said. “With so many close races, it is difficult to predict the dynamics of this election. Everyone expects multiple momentum shifts between now and Election Day.”

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Associated Press writers Zeke Miller of Washington and Bill Burrow of Atlanta contributed to this report.