Laura Ingraham: Republicans need to ‘get their act together’

Fox News host Laura Ingraham warned Republicans on Tuesday that they could be headed for trouble in November if the party does not shore up support from states that have typically been thought of as safe.

“They better get their act together in Iowa,” she said on “The Ingraham Angle,” as guests discussed a Senate map that some Republicans fear is becoming increasingly difficult for the GOP.

Panelist Ned Ryan, CEO of the conservative group American Majority, said Republicans should be worried about more than just the race in South Carolina, where Sen. Darline Graham (R-S.C.) — the sister of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) — fended off a challenge from Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.).

Ryan pointed to Alaska, Iowa, Nebraska and Ohio — four states that President Trump carried in all three of his elections — as states where the party could face unexpectedly competitive races.

“I think Republicans are kind of whistling past the graveyard on some of these Senate seats that they thought were safe,” he said.

Panelist Michael LaRosa, who served as press secretary for former first lady Jill Biden, was more skeptical that Democrats could make South Carolina more competitive, noting the state has remained safely Republican even in election years that favored Democrats nationally.

“South Carolina has really skipped any time there was a blue wave,” LaRosa said. He conceded, however, that races in other deep red states such as Kansas and Mississippi “are going to sneak up,” agreeing that the GOP could find itself defending seats in states it did not expect to worry about.

Ryun argued that some Republican voters are frustrated with the current establishment in Washington since putting the party in power, citing rising gas prices amid the Iran war and the Senate’s handling of the SAVE America Act.

“They’re not seeing a lot of the things they voted for,” he said.

The discussions come as strategists weigh the economic impacts of Trump’s policies on the midterms, including Trump’s tariff war with Canada that some say could create problems for the GOP in states with close economic ties to Canada.