President Joe Biden is poking fun at the projected “red wave” in the 2022 midterm elections that did not really materialize.
Speaking at the White House on Monday during the annual Thanksgiving turkey pardon, Biden said, “The votes are in. They’ve been counted and verified. There’s no ballot stuffing. There’s no fowl play.”
“The only red wave this season is gonna [happen] if our German Shepherd, Commander, knocks over the cranberry sauce,” he added.
Watch the video below:
“The only red wave this season is gonna if our German Shepherd, Commander, knocks over the cranberry sauce.”
— The Recount (@therecount) November 21, 2022
— President Biden jokes about Republicans’ midterm performance at the annual Thanksgiving turkey pardon pic.twitter.com/Yw4YgHYLtz
His joke comes after Democrats beat expectations in the 2022 midterm elections.
FiveThirtyEight projected Republicans were “slightly favored” to win control of the Senate. They needed to hold all of their current seats and flip just one Democratic-held seat to win the upper chamber.
However, Democrats picked up a seat in Pennsylvania and Republicans have so far failed to flip any Democratic seats.
The race for Georgia’s Senate seat is headed to a run-off on Dec. 6 as neither Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) nor Republican Herschel Walker won at least 50% of the vote.
If Walker wins, the Senate would remain evenly divided with Vice President Kamala Harris able to cast the tie-breaking vote. But if Warnock comes out on top, Democrats will wind up expanding their majority by one seat.
Republicans were also projected to win control of the House, and they did. However, they will have a razor-thin majority.
On Nov. 9, Biden held a press conference and celebrated the results for the Democrats.
“While the press and the pundits are predicting a giant red wave, it didn’t happen. And I know you were somewhat miffed by my obsessant [sic] optimism, but I felt good during the whole process. I thought we were going to do fine,” Biden said.
In case you missed it:
President Biden: "We had an election yesterday. It was a good day I think for democracy. And I think it was a good day for America…While the press and the pundits are predicting a giant red wave, it didn't happen." #Election2022 pic.twitter.com/orJmVmxDCk
— CSPAN (@cspan) November 9, 2022
He continued, “While any seat lost is painful — some good Democrats didn’t win last night — Democrats had a strong night. And we lost fewer seats in the House of Representatives than any Democratic President’s first midterm election in the last 40 years.”
Biden also noted there were some predictions Republicans could pick up as many as 50 House seats, but he added, “That’s not going to happen.”
