Roger Wicker: The night felt ‘different’ than Romney’s 2012 defeat

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said the lead-up to Election Day was a “bleak week,” with Republicans expected to lose both the presidential race and their Senate majority.

“I think most senators believed the conventional wisdom and, much as we dreaded a Hillary [Clinton] presidency, we thought it was more likely than not we would get one,” he said.

{mosads}But as Wicker watched The New York Times’s election gauge tilt toward Trump from the Ronald Reagan Building, along with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), he called his wife in Mississippi to note how “different” that night felt compared to Mitt Romney’s 2012 defeat. 

“I called her probably 10 times that night. And early on I said … ‘It just has a different feel and this may be a very good night.’ Early on that needle started moving our way,” he said.