By Townhall Chicago News Staff
A caller to a Chicago AM 560 radio program predicted Monday that Republicans will lose control of both the U.S. House and Senate when midterm election results come in Tuesday.
The caller, identified on-air only as Tony, from Downers Grove, said Republican messaging has repeatedly failed to connect with voters in competitive races this cycle. He was one of several listeners who phoned into the program during the two-hour broadcast.
“I’m going to brace for the loss of the Senate. And the House… Republicans are like around the hamster wheel. They set the alarm clock and are late to the party every single time,” Tony said.
Dan Proft, host of the program, pushed back on the idea that early voting data points to a Democratic advantage, a point Tony had raised earlier in the call. “I still think that early voting is mainly just redistributing the vote over a longer period of time,” Proft said.
Proft said he had expected Republicans to hold a wide enough Senate margin to withstand a difficult midterm environment. “I thought the Senate cushion was large enough that if Trump continued to lead the common-sense counter-revolution… Republicans would be in a good position to weather a midterm storm,” Proft said. He added that he now believes the Senate majority may be at greater risk than he previously expected.
The exchange came during an Election Eve broadcast that included call-in segments from listeners around the Midwest, as well as national news updates on key Senate races in Michigan and Maine. Proft opened Monday’s program by questioning whether a campaign strategy built around President Donald Trump’s continued popularity was the right approach for Republican candidates this cycle.
Tony’s claim that early voting data favors Democrats was not independently verified. State election officials release early and absentee voting figures by party registration in some states, though those figures do not directly indicate how ballots were cast.
The program’s discussion Monday centered on a small number of competitive Senate races, including contests in Michigan and Maine, that both parties have identified as likely to determine which party holds the majority in the next Congress.
Control of the Senate and House will be decided as polls close across the country Tuesday night.
