Al Weaver of the Washington Examiner reports on the latest reaction among congressional Republicans to the prospect of a “blue wave” election.
They’re whispering it, but House Republicans are beginning to think they just might have a chance.
After believing for months that a Democratic landslide was on the way, many Republicans are now daring to hope that they’ll either keep the House majority or lose it by the slimmest of margins.
According to an informal poll of ten GOP House members, aides, and operatives two weeks before election day, neither party will have more than a five-seat majority. If it happens that way, the GOP will — against the odds — have overcome their own initially unenthusiastic base and seemingly boundless energy among Democrats essentially to fight to a draw.
The Senate battle over Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh seems to have helped motivate GOP voters, along with ongoing job creation and economic growth that has given Republicans — and President Trump — something to crow about.
“For the first time in months, we have the wind at our backs. Now we have to figure out a way to keep it up for two weeks,” said Corry Bliss, executive director of the Congressional Leadership Fund. “In the last 30 days, the president has done the hardest thing in American politics: to both excite and unite the Republican base.”