Famous Democratic strategist James Carville said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that the party should have lost at least 57 seats but managed to avoid a red wave because of former President Donald Trump’s presence.
Co-host Willie Geist noted that given the current economic situation nationwide coupled with President Joe Biden’s approval ratings, Democrats should have performed worse than they actually did.
“Being the party in power, 8% inflation, a president with a 43% approval rating, they should, by any standard, have lost a whole bunch of seats. If you look at the projection right now they are going to be down about five seats,” Geist said. “There’s some play in that number but it’s not nearly, nearly what Democrats or, frankly, Republicans who are frustrated this morning [expected].”
Co-host Joe Scarborough chimed in, noting historic trends tend to show that the incumbent party loses handsomely during a midterm cycle, with Tuesday’s elections breaking the cycle. (RELATED: ‘We Were Expecting More Of A Red Wave’: Ainsley Earhardt Clearly Confused After GOP Fails To Make Major Gains)
“Could you explain to people viewing who don’t know politics closely and as well as you do, how historic last night was?” Scarborough asked.
“I’m going to try because I’m sitting here saying if you put everything in a computer, we should have lost 57 seats,” Carville said. “Four, five Senate seats, and the reason is Donald Trump. He brought people out to vote against this. He had a suppressive affect. He out trumped inflation and crime. He out trumped the normal cycle of the first off-year election with an incumbent president. When political historians unearth this they are going to find so much more that we missed this morning.”
While several races such as Georgia’s Senate race and Arizona’s Senate and gubernatorial races have yet to be called, Republicans have so far picked up one seat in the House while Democrats have lost one. The current control of Congress has Republicans with 196 members in the House and Democrats with 171. The parties need to reach 218 seats to be in control. Meanwhile, control of the Senate remains close, with Democrats holding 48 seats to the Republicans’ 47.
In Pennsylvania, Republicans lost both the Senate and gubernatorial races, whereas in Arizona the Republicans are trailing their Democratic counterparts in both races. Republicans did make a major pickup in New York, where incumbent Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney lost to his Republican challenger.