Mitch McConnell likens close Senate races to ‘a knife fight in an alley’

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell

How are the midterm elections looking for Senate Republicans? To hear Mitch McConnell say it, a handful of races have reached the level of a brawl.

‘All of them too close to call and every one of them is like a knife fight in an alley.’
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell

Speaking to reporters in Kentucky, the Senate majority leader named nine states in which he said contests were “dead even”: Arizona, Nevada, Tennessee, Montana, North Dakota, Missouri, Indiana, West Virginia and Florida.

McConnell, reports NBC News, made the comments when asked if Republicans would hold the majority in Congress. The GOP now holds a slim majority in the Senate, 51-49.

The Kentucky Republican said his party knows it’s “going to be a very challenging election.”

The GOP has an advantage in the November contests, however, since the party has to defend nine seats while Democrats must defend 26.

Robert Schroeder is the White House reporter for MarketWatch. Follow him on Twitter @mktwrobs.

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