Republicans had the chance to hold the House, but the generic ballot shifted and "realistically," the odds are that Democrats will retake the House in Tuesday's midterms, Republican strategist Karl Rove said Monday.
"It depends what poll," Karl, a former senior adviser for President George W. Bush and Fox News contributor, told Fox News' "Fox and Friends."
"Only once since the Civil War has the White House party picked up seats. The last time was 2002. Having said that, the question is how narrow it is going to be…. the question is, is it continuing to move down and how close it will get. Realistically the odds are that Democrats take the House and take the House narrowly."
Rove noted that in August, the ABC-Washington Post generic poll had Democrats ahead by 14 points, but the numbers dropped down to 11 points in September and 7 points by the end of October.
"If it gets down to five or six or four, Republicans keep the House," Rove said.
Some races will likely be settled by just a handful of votes, Rove agreed, and it will take time, for some states to get all their results back.
The Senate, however, will likely not switch parties, said Rove.
"If you go back to 1914 when we began electing senators on a popular vote basis, there has never been a map as favorable to the president's party this one," said Rove.
"One out of every five times, the party in power holds its own or gains seats in the Senate. I think this is one out of five times. Republicans will end this between 51, 53, maybe 54 on a really good night."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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