Sen. Rick Scott: GOP Could Hold Up to 55 Senate Seats After Midterms

Sen. Rick Scott: GOP Could Hold Up to 55 Senate Seats After Midterms Sen. Rick Scott: GOP Could Hold Up to 55 Senate Seats After Midterms Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., speaks at a Herschel Walker campaign event in Carrollton, Georgia. (Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)

By Jay Clemons | Friday, 21 October 2022 04:11 PM EDT

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., has a midterm elections prediction that goes beyond the Republicans simply breaking the 50-all tie in the Senate.

Republicans could get a net positive of five Senate seats next month, an assessment that would give the GOP a plus-10 advantage in the Senate.

"It starts right here. We're going to get 52 Republican senators. We have to win here," Scott said Thursday at a campaign event in North Carolina, while stumping for Rep. Ted Budd, R-N.C., who's running for a U.S. Senate seat.

"I think we can get 53, 54, 55. The energy is on our side. People are fed up with the Biden agenda," Scott added.

Scott, who is also the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), has been more optimistic about the Republicans' chances in November than Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who recently drew criticism from within his own party after being lukewarm about the Senate GOP's electoral prospects.

The 52-to-55-seat prediction from Scott runs in direct contrast to Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Last month, Peters professed the possibility of the Senate Democrats holding 52 seats when Congress reconvenes in January.

In a recent New York Times-Siena College poll, the majority of survey respondents favored the Republicans' message/track record for handling the majority — by a 34-point margin (64% Republicans/30% Democrats).

For that same poll, the respondents identified the U.S. economy/high inflation as the No. 1 issue heading into the midterms.

Earlier this month on Newsmax, Dick Morris, a political strategist, best-selling author, and adviser to former Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, said a GOP "sweep" of the battleground races within the Senate chamber could happen.

Morris, the author of "The Return: Trump's Big 2024 Comeback," said on "Rob Schmitt Tonight" that his internal polling shows some of the "sleeper races" leaning toward the GOP candidates.

And Morris believes that three GOP candidates — Dr. Mehmet Oz (Pennsylvania), Blake Masters (Arizona), and Herschel Walker (Georgia) — will deliver a Senate victory for the Republicans.

"If Oz wins, as I think he can, and we picked up at least one of those other two seats — like Masters' — I think that we can win, and we'll win with 52 or 53 seats," Morris said. "But I want to stress that it is possible this year to just clean up. We could win all of these races because the polling is so pro-Democrat in its bias."

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