GOP Chair: ’50-50′ Chance We Lose Control Of House Of Representatives

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GOP chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said Sunday that the Republican Party had a 50 percent chance, in her view, of losing control of the House of Representatives as a result of November elections.

“On the House, we have a lot of seats on the margin,” McDaniel acknowledged to CBS’ Margaret Brennan. “Absolutely we’ve had an unprecedented amount of retirements and that has made it harder in some of these swing districts. But right now I’d say it’s 50-50.”

The remark came after The New York Times reported, based on an audio recording of the event, that McDaniel told a roomful of Republican donors and politicians Saturday that “it does cost, right now, more money to engage our voters, to get them knowledge of the election.”

“They have their energy,” McDaniel said of Democrats. “We have our infrastructure.”

At the same event, according to the Times, White House budget director Mick Mulvaney implied Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) may not be “likable” enough to retain his Senate seat in the upcoming election. Cruz is in a close race with Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX). 

Axios reported last month that beltway Republicans, worried about Democrats taking control of either chamber of Congress, had created a spreadsheet of all of congressional Democrats’ outstanding requests for documents and investigations.

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