‘It’s Going to Be a Bad Night!’ Former Ted Cruz Spox Gives Brutal Midterm Forecast for GOP

Rick Tyler, once a chief spokesperson for Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) 2016 presidential campaign, delivered a grim forecast for Republicans ahead of the November midterm elections, warning that the GOP is headed for a “bad night!”

Tyler joined Wednesday’s edition of CNN News Central to discuss the competitive Texas Senate race between Republican Ken Paxton, the state’s attorney general, and Democratic state Rep. James Talarico.

While a recent Marist poll found no clear leader in the race, with Talarico edging out Paxton 47% to 45%, CNN’s Boris Sanchez pointed out that the same survey put the Republican’s unfavorability rating at 56%.

Paxton’s campaign has been plagued by a string of controversies, including a Monday Wall Street Journal report featuring video of him celebrating New Year’s Eve in Dubai with two men facing federal criminal charges, his wife’s divorce filing citing adultery, voter fraud allegations, his office’s plea deal with convicted child sex predator Adam Hoffman, and more.

“I wonder if you think he has done enough to shed that image?” Sanchez asked Tyler.

Noting that he thinks unfavorability ratings “have sort of a modern interpretation now” because “everybody hates politicians,” the former Cruz spokesperson continued, “Paxton’s are worse, and as long as his are worse, then Talarico’s gonna be in pretty good shape.”

“Talarico has been consistently ahead. I don’t know what’s gonna change that,” he added. “I don’t know that [President Donald] Trump’s deal with our enemy, [Russian President] Vladimir Putin, to purchase diesel fuel is gonna drive down prices. It won’t.”

Also mentioning the war in Iran as another factor that will continue to raise prices ahead of the midterms, Tyler declared, “If you look at who is excited to vote and who is not excited to vote, it’s clear that the Democrats have a huge advantage in being excited to go out and vote because they feel like they can win the House. I think they most certainly will, and they could win the Senate.”

He then went on to reference Trump’s Tuesday rally in Alaska, calling the state “the last place on a Republican list to send the president” because it “should be a done deal.”

“Iowa’s not in that great of shape, Ohio’s not in the greatest shape, Michigan’s in terrible shape — there are a lot of problems for the Republicans,” Tyler concluded. “It’s going to be a bad night for the Republicans! It just is.”

Watch above on CNN.

Jason Cohen contributed to this report.

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