Former Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel said on election night that she expects Republicans may lose the House but believes the party will keep the Senate. She spoke with PBS News from Lansing, Michigan, where she is campaigning for Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers.
McDaniel led the RNC for seven years, including all of President Donald Trump's first term. Geoff Bennett noted that House Republicans lost a net 41 seats in the 2018 midterms while she was chair. McDaniel pointed out that Republicans gained Senate seats that year. She said the president's party usually loses House seats in a first midterm, a pattern that goes back more than 100 years. "I do think that the House probably will flip to Democrats this cycle," she said.
Her focus was Michigan. McDaniel said the state has not had a Republican senator since 1994. She said Rogers made inroads with Jewish and Black voters and built a "Democrats for Rogers" coalition. She also pointed to the endorsement from Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens.
Asked about the party spending heavily to defend a Senate seat in Texas, McDaniel said it is concerning because that money cannot go to races where Republicans could pick up seats. Still, she predicted that Texas and Kansas, states Trump won by double digits, would stay Republican.
On what Republicans would deliver with two more years of unified control, she pointed to the tax changes on tips, overtime and Social Security. She said ending the Iran war would bring gas prices down and that deregulation would improve the economy. She said she hopes Democrats will work with Republicans rather than pursue retribution.
McDaniel said Trump will have a lot of say in the 2028 Republican nominee. She also said his call for supporters to vote as if he were on the ballot matters, because many Trump voters skip midterms when his name is not on the ballot.
Sources: PBS News