Republicans head into Election Day confident of a ‘red wave’

Republican officials and GOP candidates oozed with confidence on the morning of Election Day that their party is on track to claim majorities in both houses of Congress, ending two years of Democratic control in Washington.

“On every single issue, the Democrats have failed, and the American people, right now, are about to deliver them their report card,” Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel told conservative talk radio host Hugh Hewitt on his Tuesday morning broadcast.

Both the House and the Senate are up for grabs in Tuesday’s midterm elections, but Republicans are heavily favored to regain control of the House. The narrowly divided Senate’s fate will likely be determined by key races in a handful of states including Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona and North Carolina.

McDaniel spent the morning campaigning at a diner in Warminster, Pa., with Senate candidate Mehmet Oz, who in the past few weeks has narrowed Democrat John Fetterman’s lead in the race for the Pennsylvania seat. Oz, speaking to Fox News from the diner, boasted of his chances of taking down Fetterman, who is polling slightly ahead of the former TV personality.

“When all the votes are counted, I'm going to be the winner,” Oz said. “And the reason for that is because I have been pushing hard every day about the kitchen table issues, the issues that are plaguing Pennsylvanians.”

Both Fetterman and Oz voted in the state on Tuesday. Neither took questions from reporters, with Oz giving brief remarks encouraging everyone to vote.

While Republicans made their rounds on TV and radio at the outset of Election Day, Democrats seemed to largely avoid media appearances.

Republicans on Tuesday morning alluded to the midterms becoming a referendum on Democrats and President Joe Biden’s presidency. They pointed to issues they said are high on voters’ minds — such as soaring inflation — as a sign of a red wave sweeping the country and giving Republicans back the majority.

Arizona GOP Senate candidate Blake Masters said he expects a “big” and “glorious” wave of Republican wins on Tuesday. Masters is running against incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly in a toss-up race for the Arizona Senate seat.

“The Democrats in Arizona, they have an advantage in the early vote: More Democrats showed up to vote early than Republicans,” Masters told Hewitt on Tuesday morning. “This didn’t surprise us, right, we're expecting a giant wave tomorrow.”

There are some signs Tuesday could turn into the referendum on Democratic control that Republicans are hoping for: Even in historically blue states such as New York and Oregon, the left is struggling to maintain their leads in key races. The New York contest for governor between Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin has narrowed significantly in recent months, and in deep-blue Oregon, Republican Christine Drazan is running neck-and-neck with Democrat Tina Kotek in the gubernatorial race.

Republicans remained confident Tuesday morning that they’d be able to sweep races both in blue states and against Democratic incumbents.

Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said states that used to be “out of reach” for his party, like New York and Michigan, “are now in reach” as voters “stand up and say ‘we've had enough’" of Democratic leadership.

“Every state deserves a Republican governor,” Youngkin told Hewitt on Tuesday.

McDaniel, the RNC chair, said the GOP’s likeliest pick-up of gubernatorial races was Drazan winning in Oregon.

“She’s run a really great race. This will be the first time a Republican’s won in Oregon for 40 years,” McDaniel said.

Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker said he’s confident he’ll avoid a runoff in the race against incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock. Both Democrats and Republicans are betting on a win for their candidates in the tight race, but if neither can top 50 percent of the vote on election night, the contest will proceed to a runoff on Dec. 6.

“I do feel that we can avoid a runoff,” Walker told Hewitt on Tuesday. “I think the people in Georgia, they are speaking and speaking clear, that they want a change. I think they are tired of this economy being the way it is, and you have people in Washington like Sen. Warnock that don’t want to even address it.”