Newt Gingrich: GOP strong with Hispanics, could pick up 70 House seats in midterms

Former House Speaker Newt Gringrich is forecasting a historic rout for Democrats in the 2022 midterms.

"I think we’ll pick up between 25 and 70 seats in the House. We'll probably pick up about four seats in the Senate," Gingrich said on Fox News Sunday.

"I think that people like Herschel Walker are going to do very, very well,” he added. The former NFL player is leading the Republican primary for the Georgia Senate seat won by Democrat Raphael Warnock in a 2021 special election.

Gingrich was a major leader of the 1994 congressional election where Republicans took the majority in the House of Representatives for the first time since 1952 in a 52-seat swing. 

If the GOP manages to pick up 70 House seats in November, it would surpass the 63-seat gain by Republicans in 2010 – the height of the Tea Party movement and the highest gain for both parties since 1948, notes Paul Bedard at the Washington Examiner.

Democrats currently hold a 12-seat edge over Republicans in the House, with five vacancies. In the Senate, Democrats hold control with two independents - Sens. Bernie Sanders (VT) and Angus King (ME) - and Vice President Kamala Harris as a tiebreaker. 

The former speaker pointed to Latino support for the GOP, which has been rising amidst record inflation and the left’s focus on culture issues.

“[The Republicans] are now stronger with Hispanics than with whites,” Gingrich said.

Gingrich also threw his support behind Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) for speaker should the GOP retake the majority, saying, “I think he will do an amazingly good job.”

McCarthy was back in the headlines for a while after leaked audio recordings where it seemed he planned to urge President Donald Trump to resign following the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol, which he has denied. However, Trump has subsequently said the relationship between the two men remains strong.