Republicans Expect GOP Midterm Gains Due to Distasteful Democratic Policies

Republicans think the Biden administration's early failures will provide plenty of campaign ammo they can use to win both the House and the Senate in the upcoming midterm elections, reports the Hill.

Among the topics they will look to exploit is the border crisis, massive spending for the COVID relief bill, the failure to return children to in-person leadning, a push among some progressive Democrats to expand the Supreme Court, and others. 

“This is going to be like 2010, 2012, 2014 where we pick up seats because of Obama’s agenda,” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., head of the Republican Senate’s campaign arm, told Hugh Hewitt’s radio show Friday.

“Now what I talk about every day is do we want open borders? No. Do we want to shut down our schools? No. Do we want men playing in women’s sports? No. Do we want to shut down the Keystone Pipeline? No. Do we want voter ID? Yes,” he continued. “And the Democrats are on the opposite side of all those issues, and I’m going to make sure every American knows about it.”

The GOP is also particularly unhappy with the inclusion of progressive priorities in ‘infrastructure’ and ‘economic’ relief bills such as ‘green new deal policies,' and Democrats' discussion of evading the constraints of the filibuster. 

Currently there is a razor thin separation of power in Congress. Historically, the party in power loses seats at the midterm, which could mean Republicans could theoretically win enough seats to take back the majority and regain control. 

Biden’s immigration policy, or some say the lack thereof, may shape up to be the big winning issue for Republicans. 

The Hill reports that Heritage Action, a conservative advocacy group, in a poll conducted late last month in 15 congressional swing districts and 19 suburban swing counties found that a majority of voters agreed Biden’s reversal of Trump’s policies was to blame for the border crisis and were less likely to vote for Democrats because of the surge.

“Immigration and the loss of control of the border is the top Achilles’ heel for Democrats,” said Dan Eberhart, a GOP fundraiser, “That and the amount of money Democrats are shoveling into bills under the banner of economic stimulus that is a thinly veiled payola to their progressive coalition," Eberhart added, according to the Hill.

“I think that these issues resonate with all Americans, and in places where Democrats have a very thin majority, these kinds of issues could cost them seats,” said Jenny Beth Martin, a co-founder of the conservative group Tea Party Patriots, reported the Hill.

“I think we all understand that the threat right now comes from the potential of government takeover of every single sector of our lives if the Biden-Harris vision is enacted,” Martin said. “And we’re focused on that and the actions they’re taking and how it would affect us more than just looking at people who are with us most of the time,” she concluded.