Carney: ‘Barely holding onto the Senate’ a ‘great’ outcome for Dems

Former White House press secretary Jay Carney on Sunday offered a gloomy forecast for Democrats’ chances in the midterms and said that, “by definition,” it’s going to be a bad year for the party.

“This is not going to be a good year for Democrats by definition, right?” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union,” noting that historically, the party in the White House loses seats during the sixth year of a presidency.

Democrats are facing a tough battle to hold onto the Senate and prevent the GOP from expanding their majority in the House as they fight against President Obama’s sagging approval ratings, an unfavorable political climate and those historical trends Carney mentioned.

The climate is so tough, Carney said the best outcome for Democrats would be “barely” keeping the Senate.

“There’s no outcome in November that anybody could say would be great for Democrats, except for barely holding onto the Senate,” he said.

“It’s just going to depend on how localized the races are. If there’s a national wave, the Democrats are in trouble,” Carney said. If not, Democrats can still hold onto the Senate “but it’s going to be hard,” he added.