Sen. Chuck Schumer was caught on a hot mic with Joe Biden on Thursday as the two discussed the state of the upcoming election. Schumer, in an obvious attempt to blow smoke up the president’s backside, spun John Fetterman’s historically disastrous debate performance as not hurting Democrats too much in Pennsylvania.
The majority leader also told Biden that Democrats were “picking up steam in Nevada,” and in perhaps the most interesting part of the exchange, appeared to concede the Georgia senate race.
There’s a lot to break down here so let’s start at the top. First off, what evidence is there that Fetterman’s debate performance has not hurt him in Pennsylvania? There hasn’t been new polling data yet, and there’s no way that any changes on the ground could be perceived so quickly one way or the other. It seems like blind hope by Schumer to suggest that everything is fine in a senate race that Democrats desperately have to win.
As to Nevada, Republican Adam Laxalt continues to enjoy a steady lead against Democrat incumbent Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto. The only poll to show Masto leading was over a week ago (as of this writing), and it was a clear outlier. Turnout appears to be down in Nevada as well, signaling that Democrat voter enthusiasm might not be there. In other other words, I’m not sure what “steam” is being talked about there.
It was Schumer’s comments on Herschel Walker that surprised me the most, though. Why? Because if you go by the polls and the general vibe surrounding the race, you’d get the impression that Sen. Raphael Warnock is the favorite. Apparently, Schumer doesn’t think so, and given all the money that passes through his grasp, you’d think he’d know, right?
Perhaps Democrat internal polls of the race are worse than we’ve been led to believe? I just don’t think Schumer would make that comment to the president about Georgia if he didn’t actually believe Warnock was losing. Whatever the reason, it’s great news for Republicans given pickups in Georgia and Nevada give them control of the US Senate
In the end, I think Schumer was doing more to fluff Biden (as you sometimes do with dementia patients) than to actually be honest about the states of all these races. Republicans are poised to win now in Pennsylvania and Nevada, and Georgia is on the table, especially because Gov. Brian Kemp will likely have long coattails. Everything else is just coping until the votes are actually cast and counted.