Republicans are on the "right track" heading into the 2018 midterm elections, and President Donald Trump and his economic policies are leading the way, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said Thursday.
"The economy is humming," McDaniel told Fox News' "America's Newsroom" co-host Bill Hemmer. "People recognize the policies that the president has put forward are making their lives better. Look at the wages that are going up. Look at the bonuses that are being awarded around this country. 401(k) plans are up. People have more money to spend on their families. That means something."
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has said the bonuses that companies have given employees after Congress passed tax reform legislation is "crumbs," but many Americans aren't seeing their $1,000 bonuses that way, McDaniel said.
According to usual trends, when a president's approval rating is at 50 percent or below, typically 30 House seats are lost in the midterm elections, but McDaniel said she believes there will be a "very competitive midterm election. A new Fox News poll puts Trump's approval rating at 45 percent, nearly the highest ratings he has had.
"The RNC has raised double the money of the DNC," McDaniel said. "We're all over this country building our ground game and have a message to deliver. We can run on things that we've done to make people's lives better with the tax cuts, deregulation, economy doing better."
McDaniel said she believes the GOP will pick up Senate seats as well.
"We have a lot of Democrats who have to answer for voting no on the tax cuts," said McDaniel. "[W. Va. Sen.] Joe Manchin is one of them. The banner said we'll remember in November. We'll make sure of that. Across the country we'll be competitive in the House seats. I predict we keep the majorities."
McDaniel also commented on the five months of missing text messages that had been exchanged between FBI agent Peter Strzok and attorney Lisa Page.
"I think it needs to be investigated and it will be investigated," she said. "It is deeply concerning to see the text message exchanges between Strzok and Page, and the things they were saying about this president, and the things they were going to do the stop or hurt this president. We need to get to the bottom of it and find those 50,000 missing text messages."
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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