(NewsNation) — A majority of polls and forecasts for tonight’s midterm election project Republicans to win the necessary five seats needed to retake a majority in the House.

But NewsNation’s political editor Chris Stirewalt said Republicans should have ambitions that extend beyond winning just five seats if things are to go smoothly for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy should he become Speaker of the House.

Stirewalt said McCarthy needs “the cavalry to come” if he is going to have a smooth transition to speaker.

“If you have a narrow majority, what John Boehner used to call the ‘knuckleheads,’ the Freedom Caucus, the hardliners, will hold Kevin McCarthy, they will dangle him over the pit every day of his life,” Stirewalt said. “They’ll say, ‘If you don’t impeach Biden today … if you don’t do this today … if we don’t have a government shutdown today. …’ McCarthy needs some breathing room.”

Stirewalt’s full interview can be viewed in the video above.