Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had dinner with six other senators on Monday night at an Italian restaurant on Capitol Hill popular with lawmakers. Today Punchbowl is reporting on some of the statements made by Schumer, one of which is that his cohort in the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi in “in trouble.” In trouble, as in she’s about to lose her job because Republicans are going to take back control of the House in the November midterm elections.

Schumer’s dining companions that night were a mix of east coast Democrats, western state Democrats, and his Senate majority whip, Dick Durban (Illinois). Senators Chris Coons (Delaware), Mark Kelly (Arizona), Chris Van Hollen (Maryland), Tom Carper (Delaware), and John Hickenlooper (Colorado) were all around Schumer’s table at Trattoria Alberto.

Frankly, most of the remarks leaked to Punchbowl and being reported are not anything that would amount to breaking news. They are pretty much common opinions of most political observers, regardless of party affiliation. It’s just interesting that Schumer is saying the quiet part out loud to his fellow Democrats – San Fran Gran is on her way out the door. Does anyone think that Nancy Pelosi will hang around and go back to being an ordinary member of the House after being Speaker? She did once when she was younger and correctly gambled that she’d be back in charge one day, but now she’s over 80 years old. It’s time for her to either get an ambassadorship from her pal Joe Biden or settle down and visit her various homes and spend some quality time with her children and grandchildren. She has a well-stocked freezer in San Francisco loaded with pricey pints of ice cream. She’s set.

Republicans only need 5 seats. Five. Schumer is just stating the obvious. One thing mentioned in Punchbowl’s reporting is that Schumer was speaking loudly and overheard by other patrons. Maybe he’s trying to soften the blow that will likely come to Democrats on election night in November. Schumer gives Democrats a 60% chance of holding control of the Senate and a 40% chance of holding the House.

→ The Senate majority leader said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy “sucks up” to former President Donald Trump.

→ Schumer also said he believed Trump would run for election in 2024.

→ Schumer said Democrats won’t be able to win the Senate race in Iowa. Democrat Mike Franken, a former Navy vice admiral, is running against longtime GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley.

→ With Kelly at the table, Schumer said the Arizona Senate race would tighten if tech billionaire Peter Thiel started spending money to boost Republican Blake Masters.

→ On the legislative front, Schumer said Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) claim that taxing the rich is akin to “inflation” for wealthy Americans is “ridiculous.”

→ Schumer criticized former New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo over redistricting, blaming Cuomo for Democrats failure to pick up House seats during redistricting.

I hold out some optimism that Schumer and the Democrats will lose the Senate, too. I think there is some good news to hold on to right now in the Georgia Senate race between Herschel Walker and his Democrat incumbent opponent, Raphael Warnock. Depending on how Walker carries himself in the televised debate, his RCP aggregate average is improving. Polls usually favor Democrats so I think Walker may have a legitimate shot at winning the race. We only need one seat.

The Arizona Senate race is tightening. RCP aggregate average polling has the race at Kelly up by 4 points. Its ranking is a toss-up. Republican Blake Masters has the endorsement of Trump and the backing of Peter Thiel. Perhaps Masters can pull it off. It’s good to see Kelly sweat, though, and not cruise to re-election. He’s been a nothingburger of a senator. It’s easy to forget he’s there. And, he votes 100% with Biden and Schumer’s extremist agenda.

The non-partisan Cook Political Report has moved three senate races to the toss-up column. Besides Georgia and Arizona, they also include Nevada. Republicans just need one of those to flip.

In the meantime, let Schumer go to restaurants and loudly bloviate about the chances for Democrat victories. Keep the popcorn handy. A lot can change on a dime between now and election day but for now, things are looking pretty good.