Republicans Hit With Ominous ‘Historic Losses’ Warning

Jonathan Ernst / REUTERS Republicans are being warned of “historic losses” in the midterms, with a new polling aggregate showing the party trailing in eight major battleground Senate races just two months before voters head to the polls.

The warning comes from RealClearPolitics data and paints a grim picture for a party already facing an uphill battle to retain control of the House, given historical trends that work against whichever party holds the White House.

Now the Senate map looks increasingly shaky too, with Republicans struggling even in reliably red territory like Texas and Ohio.

“It points out the obvious that Republicans are in pretty bad shape going into the midterms and that they’re looking at historic losses,” Republican strategist Terry Holt said of the bleak polling.

“The question is whether some of these races can be saved with some miraculous turnout that apparently is going to be very expensive or whether or not the mood in this country can be changed fundamentally.” According to the latest RCP aggregate, Republicans are down 2 points in Alaska, 7.5 points in Georgia, 2.3 points in Maine, 1.8 points in Michigan, 2.6 points in Ohio, 2 points in New Hampshire, 8 points in North Carolina, and 1.9 points in Texas.

One bright spot for the party is Republican Rep.

Ashley Hinson of Iowa, who leads Democrat Josh Turek by 1.4 percentage points.

Even that race, though, is far more competitive than in recent cycles.

Democrats currently hold three of the battleground seats in play, while Republicans hold the other six.

All of the races in the RCP aggregate except Georgia and North Carolina fall within what would typically be considered the margin of error.

“National Republicans have been sounding the alarm that midterms are hard since last year, and we’ve been firm that not a single race should be taken for granted,” one Republican operative involved in Senate races told the New York Post .

Veteran Republican pollster Jim McLaughlin pushed back on the grim numbers.

“I’m seeing private polling in some of these [races] … where they’re continuing to underpoll Republicans and Trump voters,” he said.

“I think the Republicans are in much better shape than what a lot of these media polls are showing, and look, we still got a long way to go between now and Election Day.” President Donald Trump himself won’t be on the ballot this time, which could complicate Republican efforts to turn out the MAGA base, while Democrats are seen as highly motivated.