McConnell says there's a "50-50" chance Republicans take control of the Senate
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday he thinks it's a "50-50" possibility that Republicans take the Senate in the November midterm elections — and the final outcome will be close.
The Senate is now evenly divided, with 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans, although Democrats control the chamber since Vice President Kamala Harris has the tie-breaking vote. McConnell last week said he thinks it's "probably a greater likelihood the House flips than the Senate." He made his latest comments in remarks to the Scott County Chamber of Commerce luncheon in Georgetown, Kentucky.
"Flipping the Senate, what are the chances? It's a 50-50 proposition," McConnell said Monday. "We've got a 50-50 Senate right now. We've got a 50-50 nation. And I think the outcome is likely to be very, very close, either way. But the stakes will be big, because if both the House and the Senate flip, I think the president will be a moderate. He won't have any choice."
A McConnell-led Senate would look very different from a Senate run by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, McConnell said. But if Republicans flip both chambers, he said they'll find a way to work with President Biden.
McConnell also said he doesn't think mass voter fraud is something voters should worry about in November, addressing a concern for some voters, especially Republicans.
"There is some," McConnell said of voter fraud. "I mean, we've had people from Kentucky go to jail for that. It happens occasionally. But our democracy is solid and I don't think of the things we need to worry about, I wouldn't be worried about that one."
Polling shows large swaths of the Republican Party believe there was widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election, even though Trump-era security officials called the November 2020 election "the most secure in American history."
Incumbent Democrats are vulnerable in Arizona, Nevada and Georgia, while the GOP is fighting to hold onto to three seats where Republican incumbents are retiring in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Ohio.