House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said on Saturday that he hopes Republicans will “make history” in the November midterm elections, arguing Democrats are being weighed down in recent forecasts due to unpopular decisions such as soft-on-crime policies and open borders.
“We’re just a short time away from hopefully making some history here,” McCarthy told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview on Oct. 29, discussing how some legacy media outlets and 2022 election forecasts are favoring Republicans to win the House and Senate less than two weeks ahead of election day.
When asked by anchor Matthew Boyle that it appears the momentum is all with Republicans, McCarthy responded, “It seems like that’s the case. But that always makes me nervous.”
The top Republican in the chamber who has been traveling across the country in an effort to win back the House majority said he’d met many voters—not only Republicans—who are “rising up” and looking for candidates with “a new plan and a new direction for America.”
‘So Many Candidates’
There are “so many candidates out there,” McCarthy emphasized, noting that the races across the country are so competitive because of Democrat policies many people don’t agree with.
McCarthy said the main reason for those voters to choose change is due to “the inflation [Democrats] brought in, the crime in their streets, the open borders, [and] fentanyl—the number one killer of Americans between the ages of 18 and 45.”
Another advantage Republicans have for the November elections is the recruitment of candidates, McCarthy highlighted, touting the GOP’s House recruiting class as “the best we’ve ever seen.”
McCarthy’s interview comes a day after election reporting service Decision Desk said Republicans are now favored to win the Senate early next month, noting that it’s the first time the company has made such a prediction.
Last week, former Vice President Mike Pence echoed a similar view as McCarthy, saying he expects to see historic wins for Republicans in the 2022 midterm elections.
“I think we are 20 days away from a historic victory for conservative values, for Republican candidates, and that’s going to be step one. We win back the Congress. We win statehouses across the country. Two years from now, we’ll win back America,” he said in an appearance on Fox News’ “America Reports.”
Odds for a “red wave” in November had appeared narrow for a while, but have recently shifted to Republicans’ favor as the elections draw near.
Not a ‘Referendum’
President Joe Biden, meanwhile, said earlier this week in what he dubbed his “closing arguments” to voters that Democrats will win the midterm elections if they “get people out to vote,” claiming Republicans would “crash the economy” in an effort to get him to cut Social Security and Medicare.
“The Republicans have made it clear that if they win control of the Congress, they will shut down the government, refuse to pay our bills, and it’ll be the first time in our history America will default unless I yield and cut Social Security and Medicare,” Biden said from the White House on Oct. 24, adding, “Let me be clear: I will not cut Social Security. I will not cut Medicare.”
The president’s claims have since drawn a rebuke from Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee. In a fact check released on Oct. 24, the GOP lawmakers wrote that independent fact-checkers have debunked Biden’s “zombie claim” that Republicans would like to cut Social Security and Medicare.
Also during Biden’s Oct. 24 speech, he framed the November elections as a “choice” and emphasized that it is not a “referendum.”
“Everybody wants to make it a referendum, but it’s a choice between two vastly different visions for America—significantly different,” the president said, adding that “Democrats are building a better America for everyone with an economy that grows from the bottom up and the middle out, where everyone does well.”
According to an ABC News/Ipsos poll, voters trust Republicans more than Democrats in handling the economy. The survey, conducted on Oct. 21 and Oct. 22, found that 36 percent of Americans trust Republicans more on inflation and gas prices, compared to 21 percent and 22 percent of people, respectively, who trust Democrats on the two issues.
Almost two-thirds of corporate economists believe the United States is already in the midst of a recession or has a “more than-even likelihood” of going into a recession in the next 12 months, according to the latest survey from the National Association for Business Economics. The survey, released on Oct. 24, comes as U.S. annual inflation topped 8.2 percent in September.
The GOP needs to take five seats to retake the House, while the Senate stands at 50–50 with Vice President Kamala Harris serving as a tie-breaker for Democrats. Generally, in recent decades, the party of the president tends to lose seats during midterm elections.
Frank Fang contributed to this report.