Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is predicting a return to the good old days, at least in Congress.
Graham said next year’s midterm elections will see Republicans take control of both the House and the Senate, as they did in 1994 amid former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s “Contract With America.” That was the first time in 40 years that the GOP controlled both chambers.
“I think there’s a tidal wave brewing,” Graham told host Sean Hannity on Fox News on Monday. “I think this is going to be 1994 all over again. When you look at rampant inflation, out-of-control crime and a broken border and just [a] general lack of knowing what you’re doing, lack of competency … the Republican Party’s going to have a great comeback if we recruit the right people.”
Twenty-seven years ago, in the midterm election just after Bill Clinton had been elected president, Republicans picked up a net of 54 seats in the House to take the majority for the first time since 1952. Senate Republicans gained eight seats, taking back control for the first time in eight years.
The margins are much smaller this time around. In the House, Republicans have to take over just five seats to regain control, and in the Senate, the GOP needs a single seat to take the majority.
“We got a lot of opportunity on the map in the Senate,” Graham told Fox News host Sean Hannity before adding that “we’re gonna take back the House, Sean, unless we completely screw this up.”
Republicans are hoping to take Senate seats in Arizona, Georgia, New Hampshire, and Nevada, but will also have to defend seats held by retiring senators in Ohio, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.
Graham also endorsed former NFL running back Herschel Walker to run in Georgia against freshman Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA). The NFL Hall of Fame member, though, has not yet entered the race.
“I hope Herschel Walker runs. Herschel Walker is talking like the average Georgian. He wants his mom to be able to go to the store without being hurt,” Graham said.
“I think Herschel fits Georgia like a glove,” the South Carolinian went on. “He’s a conservative in every sense of the word. He’s a hero in Georgia and he understands law and order. He’ll have the cops’ back. He’ll be tough on all the things you need to be tough [on] and he won’t waste your money. He’s a fiscal conservative … in my view, Herschel’s the right guy for Georgia.”
Walker recently made headlines when he asked U.S. Olympians who are protesting America at the Tokyo games, “Why are you here?” Walker, who was a member of the U.S. Olympic bobsled team in the 1990s, said his time as an Olympian made him more patriotic.
“People think I’m very harsh when I say this,” Walker said Friday on Fox News. “This is the United States of America, and if people don’t like the rules here — and there’s no doubt we can make some things better — but if people don’t like the rules here, why are you here?”
Walker said the Olympics is not “the right place” for U.S. athletes to protest America since there are foreign athletes “who would love to represent the United States of America” if they could.
“It’s very sad to me because any other country… I can promise you… they would not be representing that country,” he added. “I totally disagree with it, but they have the right to do it, even though I think it’s wrong. We have to have leaders that… are going to stand up and say the right thing. You can feel a certain way and I think that’s great, but this is the United States Olympics… . I’m not sure that’s the time or place.”