McConnell: Midterms will be ‘very challenging’ for GOP

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on Thursday that the midterm elections will be “very challenging” for Republicans, predicting that both chambers are in play. 

“I think the safest place to be is just to say that this is going to be a very challenging election, and I don’t think we know in May … whether it’s Category 3, 4 or 5,” he told The Washington Post. 

He added that, historically, the party in power loses seats during off-year elections. 

“It’s pretty hard to deny the history of off-year elections, particularly off-year elections two years into the first term,” McConnell said. 

{mosads}Though control of the House is widely considered to be in play heading into November, Republicans face a more favorable map in their quest to keep control of the Senate.

Republicans have a narrow 51-49 majority in the chamber and face a slate of nasty primary fights. 

But Democrats are defending roughly two dozen seats in November, including several in red and purple states won by President Trump in 2016. Trump, during his closed-door meeting with Republicans this week, specifically name-checked Democratic Sens. Joe Donnelly (Ind.) and Joe Manchin (W.Va.). 

McConnell, however, told the Post that control of the Senate could be determined, in part, by the outcome of battles for seats currently held by Republicans. 

In addition to Montana, North Dakota, Missouri, Indiana, West Virginia and Florida, where Republicans want to unseat Democratic incumbents, McConnell also pointed to the Senate battles in Arizona, Nevada and Tennessee. 

GOP Sen. Dean Heller is running for reelection in Nevada while GOP Sens. Bob Corker (Tenn.) and Jeff Flake (Ariz.) are retiring, sparking fights for who will replace them.

“By any objective standard, those are the seats that are likely to be in play,” McConnell told the Post. 

The Senate GOP leader did not, however, mention Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, where Democratic Sens. Sherrod Brown, Bob Casey Jr. and Tammy Baldwin, respectively, are running for reelection in states won by Trump.