Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-SC) conceded on Wednesday that he believed Democrats had a “good chance of winning the White House” as President Donald Trump’s likelihood of victory continues to dwindle according to recent polling data from multiple sources across a number of battleground states.
The comments came during a tense committee hearing to hurriedly confirm Trump SCOTUS nominee Amy Coney Barrett, which Graham has pledged to achieve before the presidential election — likely in fear of a Republican defeat in November’s presidential election. If Republicans also lost the Senate it would widely fling open the door for Democrats to swoop in with the selection of a more liberal judge to fill the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s recently vacated seat.
Lindsey Graham: "Y'all have a good chance of winning the White House."
Klobuchar: "Thank you for acknowledging that."
Graham: "Yeah. I think it's true." pic.twitter.com/hirp7PobfP
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 15, 2020
Graham, a prominent supporter of the President broke with Trump last week over his since-reversed decision to cancel further negotiations with House Democrats over a coronavirus relief package.
National polls have shown Biden with a significant lead on Trump, and although that lead is narrower in battleground states, Trump is saddled with the challenge of making up for deficits in those areas.
“I think we could lose the White House and both houses of Congress, that it could be a bloodbath of Watergate proportions,” Sen. Ted Cruz, (R-TX) said Friday.
Veteran GOP pollster Whit Ayres told the Associated Press in an interview earlier this week that he was “struggling” to see bright spots for GOP wins broadly.
“It’s not good for my side,” Ayres said. “Pretty obviously, in many ways down-ballot Republicans are in the boat with Donald Trump. That’s good for Republicans in deep-red states, but more problematic for those in swing states.”
Another previously vigorous and proud Trump supporter, Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ) was evasive when asked whether she was proud of her support for Trump during a recent debate against Democratic challenger, Mark Kelly, for her imperiled Senate seat.
“I’m proud that I’m fighting for Arizonans on things like cutting your taxes,” McSally said. Pressed again on her pride to support the President, McSally said: “I’m proud to be fighting for Arizona every single day, putting legislation on President Trump’s desk. You look at the legislation we put on his desk, it’s to cut Arizonans’ taxes.”
President Trump has appeared to acknowledge the possibility, even drawing a similar conclusion about his potential defeat months ago in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity when he complained of an impending victory for his Democratic opponent Joe Biden.
“The man can’t speak,” Trump told Hannity in a June 25 interview, “And he’s going to be your president because some people don’t love me, maybe.”
