On the morning of Election Day, Republican officials and candidates exuded confidence that their party would win majorities in both houses of Congress, effectively ending two years of Democratic control in Washington.
“The Democrats have failed on every single issue, and the American people are about to deliver them their report card,” Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel told conservative talk radio host Hugh Hewitt on his Tuesday morning show.
In Tuesday’s midterm elections, both the House and the Senate are up for grabs, but Republicans are heavily favored to retake control of the House. The fate of the Senate’s narrowly divided majority will most likely be determined by key races in a few states, including Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona, and North Carolina.
McDaniel spent the morning campaigning with Senate candidate Mehmet Oz, who has narrowed Democrat John Fetterman’s lead in the race for the Pennsylvania seat in recent weeks. Oz told Fox News from the diner that he believes he can beat Fetterman, who is polling slightly ahead of the former TV personality.
“When all the votes are counted, I’ll be the winner,” Oz declared. “And the reason for that is that I have been working hard every day on the kitchen table issues that are afflicting Pennsylvanians.”
On Tuesday, both Fetterman and Oz voted in the state. Neither took reporters’ questions, with Oz making brief remarks encouraging everyone to vote.
While Republicans appeared on TV and radio at the start of Election Day, Democrats appeared to avoid media appearances.
Republicans suggested Tuesday morning that the midterm elections would be a referendum on Democrats and President Joe Biden’s presidency. They cited issues on voters’ minds, such as rising inflation, as evidence of a red wave sweeping the country and restoring Republicans to the majority.
Arizona Republican Senate candidate Blake Masters predicted a “big” and “glorious” wave of Republican victories on Tuesday. Masters is running for the Arizona Senate seat against incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly in a close race.
“Democrats have an advantage in Arizona in terms of early voting: more Democrats showed up to vote early than Republicans,” Masters told Hewitt on Tuesday morning. “This came as no surprise to us, right? We’re expecting a massive wave tomorrow.”
There are some indications that Tuesday will be the referendum on Democratic control that Republicans are hoping for: Even in historically blue states like New York and Oregon, the left is struggling to hold onto key races. The race for governor in New York has narrowed significantly in recent months between Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin, and in deep-blue Oregon, Republican Christine Drazan is running neck-and-neck with Democrat Tina Kotek.
Republicans maintained their confidence Tuesday morning that they would be able to sweep races in blue states as well as against Democratic incumbents.
Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin claimed that states that were once “out of reach” for his party, such as New York and Michigan, are now “within reach” as voters “stand up and say ‘we’ve had enough’ of Democratic leadership.
On Tuesday, Youngkin told Hewitt, “Every state deserves a Republican governor.”
Drazan’s victory in Oregon, according to McDaniel, is the GOP’s most likely pick-up of gubernatorial races.
“She ran a fantastic race.” “This will be the first Republican victory in Oregon in 40 years,” McDaniel said.
Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker believes he will avoid a runoff against incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock. Both Democrats and Republicans are betting on their candidates winning the tight race, but if neither receives more than 50% of the vote on election night, the race will go to a runoff on Dec. 6.
“I believe we can avoid a runoff,” Walker said to Hewitt on Tuesday. “I believe the people of Georgia are speaking loudly and clearly that they want a change.” I believe they are tired of the current state of the economy, and you have people in Washington, such as Senator Warnock, who refuse to even address it.”
