Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville has delivered a sanguine prediction of how his party will fare in Tuesday’s midterm elections.
The former Bill Clinton aide, 82, appeared on MS NOW’s The Beat with Ari Melber on Monday to give his final assessment ahead of the next day’s consequential elections.
Melber asked the legendary politico if he believed Tuesday is an “economy election.”
“It is, but it is a corruption election,” Carville explained. “I think people have tied corruption to the economy, so I want to be very clear. Corruption is a challenge, and every election is about the economy. It always has been. But I think the corruption issue is really kind of center stage.”
The longtime Democrat said he believes President Donald Trump’s vastly unpopular war on Iran will serve to “expose a lot of corruption” and that “there’s a lot we don’t know.”
“It’s highly likely that the Democrats are gonna control both houses of the Congress after the election tomorrow, and I think we’re going to be in for a lot more—we’re gonna find out a lot after January 6,” he added.
Melber pressed Carville on his prediction, asking him to clarify if he believes the Democrats will truly control both congressional chambers after the midterms.
“I’m not very good at predicting, but it’s hard to look at this and not walk away with the fact that, yes, they’re gonna win the House and win the Senate,” he asserted.
He continued, “Remember, all these previous elections since Trump was elected, Democrats have been overperforming by like eight to ten points. It’s no reason to believe that they won’t overperform by that level tomorrow, and if they do, it’s gonna bear a lot of fruit. I can’t tell you specifically which one and which not, but there’ll be some ripe pickings there.”
Melber then showed a graphic of the seven battleground Senate races where Democrats have a firm advantage, including Michigan, Texas, and Maine. The host asked Carville what he makes of the polling.
“What jumps out at me,” Carville said, “the most unlikely outcome is that, not impossible, is that it breaks five-five. These things tend to break one way, and, historically, to make you feel good, they generally break for the out-party.”
“I think that, like, South Carolina, Mississippi is highly competitive,” he continued. “I’ve never been able to really break through in people’s minds just how competitive Mississippi was.”
He added, “And the other race I would really—and not just because I’m a homer—I think the Louisiana Senate race is gonna come down to the wire. I really believe that.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
