Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida has predicted that President Joe Biden and Democrats will become “crazier” after dashing GOP hopes for a “red wave” in this year’s midterms.
Rubio, who easily defeated Democratic candidate Val Demings on Tuesday, said that he wished Republicans performed in the elections as well nationally as they did in Florida during a Wednesday night interview on Fox News‘ Hannity. The Florida Republican then argued that Democrats would use their better-than-expected performance as a “license” to become more “radical” and “crazy.”
“All of this is going to make the Democrats even more radical,” said Rubio. “You already see Biden saying he’s not going to change anything. They think this is an affirmation. They think that what’s happened over the last few days, because they didn’t get wiped out, is license for them to go out and be crazier than they’ve ever been.”
Rubio argued that “everything in our society and culture is aligned against Republicans,” telling host Sean Hannity that it was a “miracle Republicans win anywhere” because “virtually every major television and media outlet in America is against us.”
Despite Democrats outperforming most midterm predictions, the senator went on to express optimism about Republican chances for still winning control of both the House and Senate when all of the votes are counted.
Rubio predicted a GOP Senate victory in Nevada. He then compared Arizona to a “third-world country” and floated voter fraud conspiracy theories due to the state not yet being finished counting its midterm ballots.
“Look, I think we’re gonna win the House,” Rubio said. “We still have a real chance [at the Senate], we’re gonna win Nevada. I think Arizona… I don’t know, it’s an embarrassment.
“I don’t have anything against the state of Arizona, but it seems like you guys are reporting on some third-world country that’s having one of these elections where every day they’re finding new boxes here, new votes there,” he continued. “I don’t understand how this is possible.”
Biden celebrated Democrats exceeding election expectations during a press conference at the White House on Wednesday, boasting that the party had its best performance in 40 years.
“While the press and the pundits are predicting a giant red wave, it didn’t happen,” said Biden. “Democrats had a strong night.”
“We lost fewer seats in the House of Representatives than any Democratic president’s first midterm election in the last 40 years,” he continued. “And we had the best midterms for governors since 1986.”
It was still unclear which party would ultimately control the House and Senate as of Wednesday night.
Republicans are leading in the House and most forecasters are predicting that they will ultimately prevail by a small margin.
The party that wins a majority of three Senate seats still up for grabs—neck-and-neck elections in Nevada and Arizona and a runoff in Georgia on December 6—will win control of the upper chamber.
Newsweek reached out to the Democratic National Committee and the White House for comment.
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