Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is expressing confidence in Republicans retaking the House and Senate in the 2022 midterm.
"I think the fall of '22 is likely to be a very good election for Republicans," McConnell told reporters back in his home state, The Hill reported Monday.
"I'm very optimistic. We have 50 Republicans senators. I know what a real minority looks like. We had 40 after President [Barack] Obama got elected. And so I think the wind is going to be at our back in both the House and Senate," he said. "I think there's a great likelihood of a pretty good election next year."
That bold prediction comes despite, among the 50 GOP senators, 20 Republican seats up for reelection compared to just 14 Democrats.
Among the battlegrounds is Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, two blue-wall states narrowly won by President Joe Biden in a contested election that leaned on mail-in votes under the guise of COVID-19 safety protocols.
Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., is retiring, opening the door for a GOP primary, while Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., has yet to decide on running for reelection.
The gubernatorial races in blue states Virginia and New Jersey gave McConnell his cautious optimism.
"We had a chance here for the American people to express themselves in those states that had some kind of elections this year about how they feel about what's going on: 71% of the American people [say] we're going in the wrong direction — 71%," McConnell told reporters, the report added. "I've been around a while; I don't remember 71% wrong track before."
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is equally confident, saying even formerly safe blue areas will be in play for GOP candidates.
"If you're a Democrat and President Biden won your seat by 16 points, you're in a competitive race next year," he said, according to The Hill. "You are no longer safe."
It points back to voter disenchantment with the Biden administration, according to McConnell.
"Obviously New Jersey voters were mad as hell at the national administration," he concluded, according to the report. "The only thing they could do is go and vote against Democrats in New Jersey.
"They were mad as heck," he said. "This is a state the president carried by 16 points."