Report: Mitch McConnell Thinks Republicans Could Lose the House and Senate in 2018

It has been widely reported that the nation, on the whole, is souring on the Republican party. From their poll results to members of their own party giving up the fight, the Grand Old Party may hold literally every part of the federal government, but their chances for holding on to them don’t exactly look rosy.

So enter Mitch McConnell, neck-flapping leader of the Senate Majority. Surely he can spread some optimism, some hope for Republicans desperate to hold on to power so they can give even more money away to the wealthy.

Politico reports that McConnell has privately said the Republicans could lose both the House and the Senate in the 2018 midterms.

The Republicans hold slim majorities in both houses—just a one-seat majority in the Senate and two dozen in the House, either or both of which could flip to the Democrats. So, really, it’s just common sense to say that the Republicans could lose control of both chambers of Congress. Still, it’s always newsworthy when a Republican establishment leader says something in line with common sense.

McConnell isn’t the only Republican to voice dire concerns in that Politico report. House Speaker Paul Ryan worries that GOP representatives may choose to retire rather than run for re-election. Alongside these retirees, the party is seeing several of its more moderate members jumping ship.

The Trump administration is scrambling to figure out its strategy for 2018, and it plans to coordinate with several special election campaigns, usually in typical swing areas that went strongly pro-Trump in 2016. The GOP is helped by the fact that the states up for grabs in the Senate races are largely Democratic states, meaning that Democrats are on the defensive in most races. While it’s certainly possible Democrats may sweep their own states and flip a few Republicans’, in any normal year, pundits would be predicting a Democratic loss in the overall Senate tallies. Good thing, as these pundits continually point out, this year is. Not. Normal.