Cruz warns GOP could lose 8 Senate seats, get swept in Texas

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is warning that Republicans could lose as many as eight Senate seats in the midterm elections and get swept in all of the statewide Texas races, including the Senate contest between Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico, if the GOP has a bad day on Nov. 3.

“The election is just a few days away, and all across the country there are Senate races that are incredibly close. There are eight to 10 Senate races across the country that are basically tied,” Cruz said on a Friday episode of his podcast, “The Verdict with Ted Cruz.”

“If we have a good night on Election Day, we could have a fantastic result. We could end up with 53 Republicans in the Senate. We could end up growing our majority in the Senate,” he said.

But he warned “if we have a bad day” Republicans “could wake up the day after Election Day, instead of 53 Republicans, with 45.”

“That big a delta is at play,” Cruz said after traveling to Georgia, Texas, South Carolina, North Carolina, Michigan and Iowa to campaign for GOP candidates.

Cruz said there will be “massive Democratic turnout” in the midterm elections and warned that Republicans face a potential “bloodbath” if Republicans don’t turn out to the polls in big numbers.

“I’m worried,” he said. “What we’re seeing across the country is massive Democrat turnout.

“Democrats are showing up, they’re energized, they hate, hate, hate Donald Trump,” he said. “If the election were over today, if just the early votes that have been cast so far are counted, Republicans would lose massively.”

But Cruz argued “there are Republican votes out there to turn that around” if GOP-leaning voters get motivated to vote.

He said reliable Democratic voters are showing up “in massive numbers.” But he said the reliable Republican voters aren’t voting early at the same rate as stalwart Democrats.

“Please, please, please show up and vote,” Cruz pleaded to his listeners.

He said there are more reliable Republican voters in the GOP-leaning Senate battleground states, but they need to cast their ballots to make a difference.

Cruz warned that the statewide races in Texas are extremely close and warned that Republicans could get swept in the Lone Star State if things go wrong for their party.

“Texas is excruciatingly close. Understand we could lose Texas,” he warned. “Not just the Senate race. We could lose every single statewide race in Texas. That’s how close these numbers are.”

He countered Republicans who argue the polls are wrong by saying while pollsters may show left-leaning bias on occasion, the data showing huge Democratic turnout this year is very real.

“I can tell you having run a lot of campaigns, having examined a lot of numbers, these data are not fake. The Democrats are massively out-turning out the Republicans. We got to fix that.”

Cruz’s Senate office did not return a request for comment.