But McLaughlin dismissed that public polling in favor of internal NRSC data that he said indicates key Senate races across the country "at the very least are jump balls." Given what he described as "the atmospherics" — a global coronavirus pandemic and the cratered U.S. economy — McLaughlin told POLITICO Playbook authors Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer that "I'll take it every day of the week and twice on Sundays."

To take control of the Senate, McLaughlin predicted, Democrats would have to win the White House plus Senate seats in Arizona, North Carolina, Maine and Colorado. Should they fail to win all four plus the presidency, Democrats would then have to win at least one out of a handful of tougher races in Montana, Georgia, Texas, Iowa or Kansas.

"If I was sitting in a chair at the other place right now, I wouldn't feel very good about that. They're not going to go four-for-four in those states," McLaughlin said. "I know how to beat guys like [Colorado Democrat] John Hickenlooper. I know how to beat guys like [Montana Democrat] Steve Bullock. We know how to beat these people because we've done it time and time and time again and we're going to do it again."

The NRSC chief noted that his organization is spending as much money as Democrats and that GOP donors "literally have panic attacks as you're talking to them" about Democrats' potential agenda if they take control of the Senate. The NRSC, McLaughlin said, has raised more money as of Aug. 9 than in any other cycle in its history.

On one of the most contested Senate races in the nation, McLaughlin said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) is in a strong position against Democratic challenger Sara Gideon, the speaker of the Maine House of Representatives. The RealClearPolitics polling average in the race shows Gideon ahead by 4.5 percentage points, but the NRSC chair said his internal data shows Collins ahead outside of their poll's margin of error.

McLaughlin contended that Maine is "a lighter shade of blue" than many people assume, noting that Collins won in Maine in 2008 by a wider margin than former President Barack Obama did.

"Her stature in the state is enormous," McLaughlin said. "If Democrats really want to go for her, they'd better pack a lunch."

When asked if Collins should campaign with President Donald Trump in the state, McLaughlin demurred and said he wasn't in a position to tell Collins how to win a state she knows so intimately.

Some of Republicans' most competitive races are in states with heavy reliance on mail-in voting, such as Colorado and Montana. Asked if he was concerned about the shift to mail-in ballots amid the coronavirus pandemic, McLaughlin said the party was making a large push through mail outreach programs. He noted that Republicans have generally favored Election Day voting, but the party has had to adjust its approach due to circumstances of the pandemic.

"You're gonna see the early ballots coming in and it's going to be better for Democrats than it is for Republicans. That's not a pandemic thing. That's the way it always is," he said. "Our job just got a little tougher."