# McConnell admits out loud that Republicans only win House races because they are gerrymandered **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 19, 2022, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcconnell-admits-out-loud-that-republicans-only-win-house-races-because-they-are-gerrymandered/969929 "2022-08-19T04:04:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcconnell-admits-out-loud-that-republicans-only-win-house-races-because-they-are-gerrymandered/969929/1 "2022-08-19T04:04:52Z")
That’s the way I interpret it anyway. It’s in the intro to this MSNBC piece from today. He was apparently speaking to the press: > I think there’s probably a greater likelihood the House flips than the Senate. Senate races are just different, **they’re statewide** , uh, candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome… So there’s also a nice dig in there about some of his possible future colleagues, GOP Senate candidates. But I thought the main point is the implication of his comment about Senate races being statewide. You can’t gerrymander a Senate race, it’s just everyone who votes for that office in the whole state, straight up and down, no districts or electors or any of that presidential stuff. Here’s the whole almost 8-minute clip that is mostly commentary. The headline on the story was actually about how Latino voters are starting to move away from the Republicans. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Mcjw_daD-P0/maxresdefault.jpg "‘They Went Too Far’: Pollster On GOP Losing Latino Support After Roe Reversal") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mcjw_daD-P0) ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcconnell-admits-out-loud-that-republicans-only-win-house-races-because-they-are-gerrymandered/969929/2 "2022-08-19T04:31:04Z")
Its actually worse than that. All else being equal, the Senate should be much easier than the house for the Republicans to control, since its not population based and California vs Wyoming get equal numbers of members rather than a 53 to 1 ratio. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcconnell-admits-out-loud-that-republicans-only-win-house-races-because-they-are-gerrymandered/969929/3 "2022-08-19T04:40:20Z")
I’m not sure that’s what he was saying. I think the part about candidate quality was what he was getting at: Statewide candidates get a lot more attention, which means bad statewide candidates are more likely to be noticed. It’s why there’s a higher percentage of lunatics in the House than the Senate (and even higher in state legislatures). ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcconnell-admits-out-loud-that-republicans-only-win-house-races-because-they-are-gerrymandered/969929/4 "2022-08-19T06:41:09Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > It’s why there’s a higher percentage of lunatics in the House than the Senate (and even higher in state legislatures). Marjorie Taylor Greene is in the House so that checks out. A big percentage of the crazy is in one person. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcconnell-admits-out-loud-that-republicans-only-win-house-races-because-they-are-gerrymandered/969929/5 "2022-08-19T10:32:04Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > I’m not sure that’s what he was saying. He’s saying that he thinks that Dr. Oz and Herschel Walker are embarrassments that will get crushed. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcconnell-admits-out-loud-that-republicans-only-win-house-races-because-they-are-gerrymandered/969929/6 "2022-08-19T12:14:38Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > Its actually worse than that. All else being equal, the Senate should be much easier than the house for the Republicans to control, since its not population based and California vs Wyoming get equal numbers of members rather than a 53 to 1 ratio. It _would_ be easier for them to get the Senate if the entire Senate was up this year. I’m pretty sure the median Senate seat across all three cycles is indeed to the right of the median seat on the new House map (which is actually better for Democrats than the 2020 map). ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcconnell-admits-out-loud-that-republicans-only-win-house-races-because-they-are-gerrymandered/969929/7 "2022-08-19T15:02:04Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > He’s saying that he thinks that Dr. Oz and Herschel Walker are embarrassments that will get crushed. Those two are like the raw asparagus and salsa on the crudités platter…the only items left after all the carrots, peppers, and ranch dip are all gone. And everyone scratching their heads thinking “why they fuck are they there to begin with? Did the host drink too much tequila before they prepped the platter?” ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcconnell-admits-out-loud-that-republicans-only-win-house-races-because-they-are-gerrymandered/969929/8 "2022-08-19T15:02:51Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > And everyone scratching their heads thinking “why they fuck are they there to begin with? They are there for color only. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcconnell-admits-out-loud-that-republicans-only-win-house-races-because-they-are-gerrymandered/969929/9 "2022-08-19T19:42:22Z")
> **[2022 Senate Election Forecast](https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2022-election-forecast/senate/)** > > Latest forecasts and polls for the 2022 Senate elections from ABC News’s FiveThirtyEight Dems are slightly favored to win the Senate, GOP slightly favored to win the House. ---
**Author:** ![Temporary\_Name](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Temporary\_Name](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Temporary_Name)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2022, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcconnell-admits-out-loud-that-republicans-only-win-house-races-because-they-are-gerrymandered/969929/10 "2022-08-21T05:48:37Z")
Tim Miller and Charlie Sykes of The Bulwark have a take on this worth listening to in my opinion: > **[Tim Miller: Sad Turtle Mitch](https://www.thebulwark.com/podcast-episode/tim-miller-sad-turtle-mitch-2/)** > > McConnell sounds like a man who’s lost control of his party, rising MAGA star Kari Lake has taken a raving antisemite under her wing, DeSantis loses in court (again) — and Dan Crenshaw knows Liz is right. Your weekend pod with Tim Miller and Charlie...