Grassley Optimistic About GOP Flipping Senate After Gloomy Predictions From McConnell

Senate Judiciary Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) suggested in a recent interview that he disagrees with past statements by GOP leadership downplaying Republican prospects in the 2022 midterms.

Currently, members of both parties are preparing for a tough battle as Democrats seek to hold on to a slim majority in the evenly-divided Senate and Republicans seek to retake the chamber after a two-year stint in the minority. Though 34 seats are up for reelection, only a few are in play, and observers remain divided on who will emerge with the majority after the midterms.

However, in a statement that caused a rift in the Republican Party, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) suggested some pessimism over his party’s prospects at the end of August, saying the GOP only has a “50-50” chance of retaking the majority.

“Flipping the Senate, what are the chances? It’s a 50–50 proposition. 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,” McConnell told the Georgetown/Scott County Chamber of Commerce in Kentucky when asked about the race.

“If both the House and the Senate flip, I think the president will be a moderate,” McConnell said. “He won’t have any choice. And so, we’ll try to find ways to make some progress for the country during the last two years of his term … but not big dramatic change.”

Those comments came a week after he made a more dire prediction to local media by saying Republicans aren’t likely to take the Senate. He blamed “candidate quality” as the reason for the lowered expectations.

Following the statement, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.)—chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the top Senate GOP electioneering and fundraising group—blasted back in a statement that