(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) Representative Michael McCaul, R-TX, predicted Republicans will pick up 40 House seats in the midterm elections, Washington Examiner reported.
A ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, McCaul told Fox News that “historically” the minority party tends to pick up seats after a new president’s first term.
With Biden’s sinking ratings, McCaul expects the GOP to pick up more than average.
“I predict we’re going to get probably at least 40 seats because this president has been so unpopular when it comes to inflation, gas prices, in my reign, the foreign policy mistakes that he’s made, and quite frankly, they seem him as a weak president,” McCaul told Fox News.
Democrats are scrambling amidst Biden’s ratings, which are sitting around 41%, according to RealClearPolitics.
Biden seems to be hearkening back to something he said on the campaign trail:
“Don’t compare me to the Almighty, compare me to the alternative,” he told the Washington Post.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki suggested a return to this idea as midterms approach to help Democrats avoid a power shift.
Several pollsters have predicted similar outcomes, most of them including wins large enough to oust Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from her post.
Later responding to a question about what the GOP would do if the House flips, McCaul said Republicans would make returning to Trump-era border laws a priority, such as the “Remain in Mexico” policy.
Under this policy, migrants who came to the U.S. seeking asylum had to stay in Mexico in the months leading up to their appearance before an immigration judge.
Biden ended this policy shortly after taking office.
“I don’t think Mexico, though, would agree to do this again. They did under Trump, and it was working, and I’m not sure it’s going to work under this administration,” McCaul said.
With Title 42—a pandemic-era policy allowing migrants to be turned away due to health concerns—about to end, officials on the Biden team, such as Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, are reported as “frustrated” over the possibility of hundreds of thousands of immigrants attempting to cross the border.