By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Northern Missouri Congressman Sam Graves is optimistic Republicans will win back the United States House of Representatives. He isn’t so sure about the Senate.
Graves, a Republican running his own re-election campaign, says the matrix is good for Republicans going into the mid-term elections.
“The president; his approval numbers are in the tank on all issues. And, you look at the candidates across the country; we have an incredibly good bunch of candidates running for the House,” Graves tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “I do think Republicans are going to take the majority in the House of Representatives. The Senate’s even harder to figure out.”
Traditionally the mid-term elections go poorly for the party in the White House.
This year should prove interesting, if for nothing else than the slim majorities Democrats hold in Congress. Democrats hold a very slim majority in the U.S. House with 220 seats to 212 for Republicans. There are three vacancies in the House.
Technically, Democrats don’t even have the majority in the Senate. There are 48 Democrats in the U.S. Senate and 50 Republicans. But, the two independents in the Senate caucus with the Democrats and since the Vice President is a Democrat, the party holds the deciding vote in any split decision.
National polls indicate voters are leaning Republican as concerns about the economy rise to the surface.
Graves says it appears Republicans are in a strong position going into the mid-term elections on November 8th.
“I’m cautiously optimistic,” Graves says. “We’ll wait and see and, in the meantime, I’m obviously going to concentrate on my race and do what I do, make sure that I can get out and talk to folks and get their ideas and their thoughts and concerns, same thing I’ve always done. Overall, I think things are looking good.”
Graves, who is from Tarkio, first won election to Congress in 2000, after serving in the Missouri General Assembly, both as a representative and senator. He is being challenged this year by Democrat Henry Martin of Kansas City and Libertarian Edward “Andy” Maidment of Kearney.