Florida Sen. Rick Scott suggested last week that Senate Republicans may be on the verge of expanding their 2022 midterm prospects to include a handful of seemingly safe Democratic seats, The Hill reported.
"I think we're going to have some sleepers, where people are going to say, 'Boy, we didn't anticipate that one,' " Scott told the outlet during an interview.
Scott, the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, pointed to Colorado, Washington, and Vermont as potential surprise flip opportunities.
"You look at Colorado. I think we have an opportunity potentially in Colorado. We have a great candidate in the state of Washington," Scott said.
"We've got … a brand-new candidate in Vermont — Christina Nolan," he continued. "And, you know, they have a Republican governor, so it's not far-fetched to believe that a Republican can win in Vermont."
An aggregation of 2022 midterm generic ballot polls by FiveThirtyEight shows Republicans leading by 2.1% against Democrats in general party voting intentions, the most significant lead for the GOP in the upcoming election since aggregation began in April of last year.
Even with favorable polling, Scott maintains cautious optimism. He said the Senate GOP still needs to work their "butt off to win."
Republicans need to flip only one seat in the Senate to obtain a majority in the upper chamber, which currently stands evenly split with a tie-breaker from Vice President Kamala Harris.
The party will be on the offensive with the seats up in Georgia, Arizona, New Hampshire, and Nevada. However, they will also need to defend several seats in crucial swing states like Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Wisconsin.
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