CNN’s King: If GOP loses Ohio special election, impeachment likely ‘on the table’

CNN chief national correspondent and anchor John King on Tuesday noted that a Democratic win in Tuesday’s special election in a heavily-red district in Ohio could signal a blue wave in the fall that would likely put impeachment “on the table.”

The perspective comes as GOP state Sen. Troy Balderson and Democratic Franklin County Recorder Danny O’Connor are battling for the open seat previously held by retired Rep. Pat Tiberi (R) in Ohio’s 12th District, which President Trump won by 11 points in 2016.

“Voters in Ohio’s 12th Congressional District picking a new congressman,” King said on CNN’s “Inside Politics.” “Just that this special election is close tells us the 2018 midterms are already a steep hill for the president and his party.”

{mosads}

“A Republican loss well might tell us more. If the GOP can’t hold this district, which last elected a Democrat back in 1980, then it’s a pretty safe bet Democrats will recapture the House in November,” King continued. “That would not only stall any Trump legislative agenda but also put investigations, possibly impeachment, on the table.”

Conservative election analyst Henry Olsen predicted on Hill.TV’s “What America’s Thinking” on Monday that impeachment hearings against Trump will happen if Democrats take back the House and Senate in November. Republicans currently hold a two-seat majority in the Senate, while Democrats need to net 23 seats to take control of the House.

“[If] you’ve got a 45-55 seat gain in the House and a Democratic Senate, impeachment hearings will happen,” said Olsen, a senior fellow at the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center.

“If you have a real blue wave — if you have the sort of wave, the late break that happened in 2006 where Democrats, from this point, they were ahead in the generic ballot, but they gained 6.6 percent between this point in 2006 and the Election Day — that will give the Democrats the Senate,” he added. 

Several Democrats including Reps. Luis Gutiérrez (Ill.) and Al Green (Texas) have called for Trump’s impeachment, but party leaders such as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have urged Democrats to not run on impeachment during campaigns leading up to the November midterms.