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Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas says Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's hot-mic moment is a sign that GOP candidate Herschel Walker is about to win the Senate seat held by Democrat Raphael Warnock in Georgia.
A Fox News microphone on Thursday caught Schumer candidly telling President Joe Biden that Democrats may be headed for defeat in the Georgia U.S. Senate election. Schumer also suggested that Senate candidate John Fetterman's post-stroke debate performance this week did not damage Democratic chances "too much" in Pennsylvania, while Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto's quest to retain her seat in Nevada was "picking up steam."
"That seat, we're in danger in that seat ... it's close, we'll see," Schumer told Biden from an airport tarmac in Syracuse, New York. "It looks like the debate didn't hurt as much in Pennsylvania as of today, so that's good. And we're basically picking up steam in Nevada."
"The state where we're going down now is Georgia," he added. "It's hard to believe that they will go for Herschel Walker."
Cruz shared a clip of the moment to Twitter a short time later, while predicting that a "red wave" of Republican victories would decide the midterms and suggesting that Schumer was "desperate" for a Fetterman win in Pennsylvania.
"Even Schumer recognizes the @HerschelWalker is gonna win in Georgia!" Cruz tweeted. "And he's desperate to try to prop up Fetterman in Pennsylvania. #RedWave2022"
A spokesperson for the Senate majority leader countered Cruz's assertion, telling Newsweek that "Schumer believes the Democratic candidates will win."
Polling indicates that Republicans have largely been making gains across the country as Election Day approaches. In the Georgia U.S. Senate race, most polls had shown Democratic incumbent Warnock enjoying a small lead over Walker until recently.
Warnock's lead has evaporated in the most recent polls, despite his ardently anti-abortion Republican opponent being embroiled in scandals that include multiple allegations he paid for or encouraged abortions.
A Rasmussen Reports poll released on Thursday shows Walker with a 5-point advantage over Warnock, while he had a 2-point lead in a Daily Wire/Trafalgar poll released on Tuesday.
A RealClearPolitics average of polls finds the Republican candidate with a tiny 0.6 percent lead as of Thursday. The site projects that the race will lead to a runoff election on December 6, while FiveThirtyEight rates the contest a "dead heat."
The other Senate elections that Schumer was captured commenting on are similarly close, but with momentum going to Republicans.
A poll released on Thursday shows GOP Pennsylvania candidate Mehmet Oz leading Fetterman by 3 points, with the survey having been conducted one day after their debate.
Fetterman is maintaining a 0.3 percent lead in a RealClearPolitics average of polls, although the site also projects that he will lose the election. According to FiveThirtyEight, the Democrat remains "slightly favored" to win.
In Nevada, polls suggest that GOP candidate Adam Laxalt has a decent chance of unseating Cortez Masto. RealClearPolitics shows Laxalt with an average lead of 1.2 percent and projects that he will win the election. FiveThirtyEight rates the race a "dead heat."
About the writer
Aila Slisco is a Newsweek night reporter based in New York. Her focus is on reporting national politics, where she ... Read more