CNN stat stud Harry Enten on Thursday called the Senate races in Texas and Kansas “bonkers” and “nuts” because of the “historically strong polling” for Democrats there.
Enten jumped off on host Kaitlan Collins’ lead-in that CNN polling shows Democrats in striking distance of retaking the Senate ― a prospect that appeared “pretty out of reach, even to Democrats, just a couple of months ago.”
“I saw these numbers come out today, and to me, they were bonkers,” Enten said. “They’re nuts.”
Enten delved into the Texas contest, where CNN has Democrat James Talarico up 6 points over Republican Ken Paxton.
“I went through the record books at this late stage of the campaign to try and find any Democratic Senate nominee who was up by as much as James Talarico [in Texas],” Enten said. “To find that, you have to go all the way back to 1988 and Lloyd Bentsen, who was running for VP that year. That’s how long ago it was. That’s 38 years ago. My goodness gracious.”
Enten pivoted to another state where Democrats have made historic inroads before Tuesday’s midterm election. That would be Kansas, where Democrat Adam Hamilton held a statistically tight 49-45 advantage over Republican Roger Marshall.
“You don’t have to be a mathematical genius to know that 49 percent is a little bit higher than 45 percent,” the network’s chief data analyst said. “... All I can say is it’s the Democrats’ best Kansas Senate poll in 30-plus years this late in the campaign. It may be significantly longer than that, but I can only find polling going back to 1996.”
Enten noted earlier that the last time a Democrat was elected to the Senate in Kansas was 1932, the same year the New York Yankees’ Babe Ruth allegedly called his home run shot against the Chicago Cubs in the World Series.