Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer heard President Biden say on Thursday that the potentially crucial race for the US Senate in Georgia appears to be going “downhill” for Democrats.
“The state where we’re going downhill is Georgia,” Schumer said in a candid conversation on a New York airport runway with the president, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, DN.Y., which was filmed by the Washington Post. “It’s hard to believe they’re going for Herschel Walker.”
According to an aggregated poll average compiled by the website FiveThirtyEight, Georgia’s incumbent Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock currently holds a small 1.7% lead over Republican candidate Walker. However, the trendline in recent polls has put Walker ahead of recent investigations, despite accusations by two women that Walker, who was outspoken about his opposition to abortion during the campaign, paid them to undergo the procedure.
However, neither candidate currently makes it more than 50%, a threshold that must be crossed when all votes in Georgia have been counted to avoid a runoff.
Schumer was more optimistic about the state of play in other midterm elections that will decide which party controls Congress, including the closely scrutinized U.S. Senate debate performance on Tuesday by Pennsylvania Lt. gov. John Fetterman v Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz.
“Looks like the debate hasn’t hurt us too much in Pennsylvania as of today, so that’s good,” Schumer said of Fetterman’s difficulty answering some questions because of his ongoing stroke recovery.
According to FiveThirtyEight, Fetterman is holding onto a 2-point lead over Oz.
Schumer also took an optimistic note about the Nevada Senate election between incumbent Democrat Senator Catherine Cortez Masto and Republican Adam Laxalt, saying, “We’re picking up steam in Nevada.”
With that race essentially stalled since mid-September, recent polls show that Cortez Masto has had a razor-thin lead in recent days, according to FiveThirtyEight.
Schumer’s open-mic moment was the second in as many months. In September, the majority leader was overheard at an Italian restaurant in Washington, DC, telling a group of fellow senators that Democrats would likely lose control of the House of Representatives in the midterm elections, Punchbowl News reported.
According to FiveThirtyEight, Republicans are “preferred” to regain control of the House of Representatives. “The GOP has a 4 in 5 chance of taking control of the room,” the website predicted Thursday.
The Senate, meanwhile, “is currently a toss-up, with Democrats ever so slightly ahead,” FiveThirtyEight said.
