Democrat riding the blue wave.
U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner is telling major Republican party donors the GOP has the Senate locked up for this election.
That’s according to Politico, who has a source that was in on the conference call with donors this week. Gardner is chairman of the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Republicans are positively bullish about their prospects in holding the Senate, which is key to keeping Democrats from completely stonewalling all judicial nominations and crippling federal courts.
Gardner’s sunny outlook envisions a Republican majority as brawny as 55 seats, a number that could put the GOP in the majority for years to come. Republicans currently control 51 seats.
Gardner himself will be among Democrats’ top targets in 2020, but if he and McConnell can pick up a handful of seats this cycle it will make it much more difficult for Democrats to take back the majority in that cycle.
Gardner predicts Republicans will oust incumbents Claire McCaskill in Missouri, Joe Donnelly in Indiana, Bill Nelson in Florida and Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota.
The only Republican senator facing a serious challenge is Sen. Dean Heller in Nevada.