RNC chair predicts GOP keeps House, 53 Senate seats

Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Joe Gruters said Wednesday he expects his party to hold onto its majorities in both chambers of Congress during November’s midterms, predicting the GOP will claim 220 seats in the House and 53 in the Senate.

“But listen, I would say, ‘Bet on us.’ If you look at what we’ve done over the last two years, we have better candidates across the country in both the Senate and the House races, we have a lot more resources to spend,” Gruters told host Blake Burman on NewsNation’s “The Hill.”

“And then we have our secret weapon and president, Donald J. Trump, and I say that because we’re going to barnstorm the country,” he continued. “We’re going to do lots of rallies … and we’re going to deliver for the American people.”

Gruters’s position comes just after polling numbers suggested President Trump’s approval rating has dipped to a career low — political baggage his party will have to grapple with come November.

As the midterms near, the GOP is staring down Trump’s divisive war in Iran and rising living costs, as well as Democrats leading them in recent polling on some issues — including health care and immigration.

Some GOP candidates have moved to distance themselves from Trump as Election Day approaches, such as Florida gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds, who dropped some mentions of the president’s name from his website this week. Senate candidates Mike Rogers (R), of Michigan, and Ashley Hinson (R), of Iowa, have similarly publicly distanced themselves from Trump on the subject of the Iran war.

Despite this division, when asked about Republican candidates distancing themselves from Trump’s agenda, the RNC chair pushed back on the strategy — saying if “you lean into the policies that this president has pushed, and you’ll win.”

“We think what the president’s delivered in terms of messaging standpoint, we think it’s a winner,” Gruters told Burman.

As of Wednesday night, The Hill’s nonpartisan polling partner Decision Desk HQ placed Trump’s approval rating at 37.9 percent, with his disapproval rating at 60.7 percent. The pollster is also forecasting the House and Senate majorities both going to Democrats.