Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer predicted Monday that Republicans will keep a “slim” House majority after Tuesday’s election, bucking the trend of most analysts who say Democrats will take control.
“I think we’ve got a greater and greater chance of keeping the House,” Spicer said on Fox News. “It may be slim, but I feel good about it.”
He said later the GOP would only be left with a “narrow” majority of between one and three seats.
Most election watchers say Republicans have a less than 20 percent chance of keeping the House, and that Democrats could win as many as 40 seats or more.
[Read: Cook Political Report outlook: Democrats gain 30-40 seats in House, up from 25-35]
Spicer was equally optimistic for Republicans in the Senate, where most think Republicans will keep control by a seat or two. Spicer said the GOP could pick up a few more seats than that.
“I feel really good about the Senate,” he said. “I think we can be as high as 56 seats, 55, 56 seats on election night.”
Spicer said Republicans are doing better than many think, and are finding competitive candidates in areas that are supposed to be easy wins for Democrats.
“There are races that we didn’t think we’d have a chance at, and now we’ve gone from being double-digit races to slim single-digit races,” he said.
“The number of people who are voting early is so much higher, and it’s from both parties, but Republican enthusiasm continues to get jacked up,” Spicer added.
