Sen. Lindsey Graham on Monday predicted that the 2022 midterms will be as big a boon to Republicans as the 1994 midterms were, halfway through the first term of then-President Bill Clinton, giving the GOP unified control over Congress for the first time in four decades.
“I think there’s a tidal wave brewing,” Graham (R-SC) told Fox News’ “Hannity.”
“I think this is going to be 1994 all over again. When you look at rampant inflation, out-of-control crime and a broken border and just [a] general lack of knowing what you’re doing, lack of competency … the Republican Party’s going to have a great comeback if we recruit the right people,” Graham added.
In 1994, Republicans picked up a total of 54 House seats to take the majority away from Democrats for the first time since 1952.
Meanwhile, in the Senate the GOP gained eight seats to gain control of that chamber for the first time since 1986.
Next year, Republicans will only need a net gain of five seats to retake control of the House and one seat to grab the Senate.
“We got a lot of opportunity on the map in the Senate,” Graham told Fox News host Sean Hannity, adding that “we’re gonna take back the House, Sean, unless we completely screw this up.”
Republicans are eyeing Senate pickups in Arizona, Georgia, New Hampshire and possibly Nevada, but they also must defend seats held by retiring GOP members in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina.
In Wisconsin, Sen. Ron Johnson has not yet said whether he plans to run for re-election next year, and Sen. Marco Rubio in Florida will face a challenge from Democratic Rep. Val Demings.
As for Graham, the South Carolina Republican has come out in support of former NFL great Hershel Walker to run against Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock next year in Georgia.
It's not *whether* the GOP will retake the House and Senate next year. It's by *how much*.
Get your bets in early.
— Dr. Jonny Republic If You Can Keep It 🇺🇸 (@JonDougherty10) July 27, 2021
“The Heisman Trophy-winning former running back for the University of Georgia Bulldogs is believed to be the heavy favorite in a GOP primary, but has not said whether or when he will announce his candidacy,” the New York Post reported.
“I hope Herschel Walker runs. Herschel Walker is talking like the average Georgian,” Graham said.
“He wants his mom to be able to go to the store without being hurt,” Graham added.
“I think Herschel fits Georgia like a glove,” Graham continued, singing Walker’s praises. “He’s a conservative in every sense of the word. He’s a hero in Georgia and he understands law and order. He’ll have the cops’ back.
“He’ll be tough on all the things you need to be tough [on] and he won’t waste your money. He’s a fiscal conservative … in my view, Herschel’s the right guy for Georgia,” he said.
Other Republicans appear hopeful that their party will regain control over at least the House, if not both chambers.
On Tuesday ahead of the first hearings held by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s 1/6 select committee, House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik of New York referred to the California Democrat as a “lame-duck.”
“She always puts her own partisan politics over what’s best for the American people,” Stefanik said.
“She is an authoritarian who has broken the people’s House. She is a lame-duck Speaker and everyone knows it,” she noted further, adding that Pelosi “is the most disliked elected official in America.”
Syndicated with permission from USA Features News.
