Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Friday said his party is running “neck and neck” for majority control of the Senate and claimed Democrats are overperforming in every Senate race across the country. | AP Photo/Alex Brandon Elections Schumer blasts GOP on health care, says Senate election races now 'neck and neck'

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Friday that Democrats are running “neck and neck” for the majority in the Senate, telling MSNBC that Republicans have handed the minority party a “gift” by pursuing policy positions on health care and social programs that Democrats can run against in the election’s closing weeks.

“Mitch McConnell gave us a gift in the last three days. He showed who the Republican party really is," Schumer said, highlighting the Senate Majority Leader’s remarks this week that the GOP will push to cut spending on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, as well make another pass at repealing Obamacare, if it retains control of the Senate.


"That's a game changer. What McConnell did in the last three days is a game changer for us," Schumer said during an interview on MSNBC's "Morning Joe.” “McConnell gave us a gift. That's a game changer when he shows who he is and wants to really hurt people on health care."

Schumer said Democrats will spend make health care the center of their closing argument in races across the country in the two weeks before the midterm elections. While Democrats have surged in House races nationwide, prompting predictions that they may take over the majority in that chamber, they have been forced largely to play defense against GOP challengers running in states where Donald Trump won in 2016.

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Still, Schumer said his party is running “neck and neck” for majority control of the Senate and claimed Democrats are overperforming in every Senate race across the country.

Schumer called North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, perhaps the chamber's most vulnerable Democrat in this year’s election, “the best retail politician I’ve ever met.” He conceded that North Dakota, where a recent Fox News poll showed Heitkamp 12 percentage points behind GOP Rep. Kevin Cramer, is “our toughest state.”

The Senate minority leader dodged a question about Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), who has been dogged by corruption charges and is facing a tougher-than-expected challenge from Republican Bob Hugin. Schumer instead attacked Hugin, accusing him of embracing Trump and opposing an infrastructure project that would create a new tunnel linking New Jersey and New York, one that proponents say is much needed.

Menendez currently is leading his opponent by 9 points, according to a Monmouth University Poll.

In one of the Democrats’ few pickup opportunities, Schumer bashed Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) for what the minority leader characterized as a flip-flop on GOP efforts to repeal Obamacare. The New York Democrat said Heller allowed his arm to be twisted into voting for the Republican repeal-and-replace efforts after pledging not to do so.

Heller leads his Democratic opponent, Rep. Jacky Rosen, by 1.7 percentage points, according to the Real Clear Politics polling average.

Especially in Nevada, Schumer said, Democrats’ closing message will focus on health care.

“What we have found [is] in states where we thought we’d be way behind, we’re next and neck. In states where we thought it would be neck and neck, we're way ahead. We’re doing much better than anyone thinks, in a very tough map,” Schumer said. “We're closing on that issue and it’s going to help us just have victory in state after state after state, including places that people didn't expect."