He mentioned "candidate quality" as a reason the GOP could have a hard time as it tries to overturn several swing seats and ward off Democratic bids for vulnerable Republican seats.
"I think there's probably a greater likelihood the House flips than the Senate," McConnell said Thursday, according to NBC News. "Senate races are just different. They're statewide. Candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome."
McConnell has repeatedly differed from former President Donald Trump, and some took his citation of "candidate quality" as a knock on Trump's hand-picked candidates in several key races.
The former president's picks in Pennsylvania and Georgia are down in the polls. Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Republican Trump-backed nominee in Pennsylvania, is following his Democratic opponent, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, by an average of 11 percentage points in the polls. At the same time, former NFL player Herschel Walker, Trump's pick in Georgia, has been beset by blunders and scandals.
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McConnell has been wary about foreshadowing a red wave before it comes. In April, he stressed that although the political environment looked like a "perfect storm" of problems for Democrats, it was "actually possible" that Republicans could "screw this up."
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“In the Senate, if you look at where we have to compete to get into a majority, there are places that are competitive in the general election," McConnell said. "So, you can’t nominate somebody who’s unacceptable to a broader group of people and win. We had that experience in 2010 and 2012."
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Republicans need to earn at least one seat to break the 50-50 partisan split in the Senate that gives Vice President Kamala Harris the tiebreaking vote, a battle in which the GOP must simultaneously defend the vulnerable Republican senators up for re-election.
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“We are just beginning to communicate about the deep flaws that their roster of candidates brings to these races,” David Bergstein, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesman, said last week. “Their personal and political vulnerabilities will continue to be a centerpiece of these Senate campaigns in the months ahead.”
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Polling guru Nate Silver says the fight between parties to win control of the Senate in the 2022 midterm elections is a "toss-up."
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Republicans need a net gain of only one seat to take control of the upper chamber, which is split 50-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris acting as the tiebreaker. However, even with President Joe Biden's low poll numbers and increasing inflation, it stays a tough call for the GOP.
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