‘Got our a–es kicked’: Dems privately fret about losing House after GOP victory in White House, Senate
Fox News
Democrats are growing increasingly concerned that they will narrowly lose the House of Representatives after Republican victories in the Senate and White House.
The balance of power in the House is expected to run razor-thin no matter who wins, but sources who spoke with Fox News Digital are worried that the Democrats’ path is narrowing.
“We’re almost certainly going to lose the House by a narrow margin,” a senior House Democratic aide told Fox News Digital. “We got our a–es kicked.”
The House aide found optimism, however, in Republicans’ comparatively decisive victories in the upper chamber and presidential race.
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“If you told me [President-elect Trump] won the popular vote, dominated the electoral college, and they could end up with 56 seats in the Senate, this House map is really not too bad,” they said.
A person familiar with House Democratic campaigns told Fox News Digital, “If last night is any indication of how the House will flip, I don’t feel confident. The American people are clearly not buying what we’re selling.”
“I think it comes down to the economy, honestly,” the second source said. “People feel like they could have more in their bank account.”
As of early Wednesday afternoon, Republicans led Democrats by nearly two dozen projected race wins, according to The Associated Press.
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The winning party must take 218 of 435 House races to control the chamber, and there are those on the Democratic side still holding out hope but acknowledging the margins would be thin.
“I think Democrats are still hopeful…there’s a chance to get some flips to get a narrow majority,” longtime Democratic strategist Joel Rubin told Fox News Digital.
Rubin pointed to toss-up seats in California and New York that still have not been called, which are currently held by Republican incumbents, as well as an open seat in Maryland that Democrats are fighting to keep.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York also remained hopeful on Wednesday afternoon.
“As a result of the enduring strength of our battle-tested incumbents, critical open seat holds in Virginia and Michigan, victories in Alabama and Louisiana and flipping four Republican-held seats in New York this year, the House remains very much in play,” Jeffries said in a statement.
“The path to take back the majority now runs through too close to call pick-up opportunities in Arizona, Oregon and Iowa – along with several Democratic-leaning districts in Southern California and the Central Valley.”
Jeffries, who is likely to become House Speaker if Democrats win, vowed his caucus would “continue to govern with common sense and conviction.”
Democrats are poised to unseat two Republican incumbents – New York Reps. Marc Molinaro and Brandon Williams – so far in their quest to win the majority.
Meanwhile, Republicans are projected to take control of the open Michigan seat that was vacated by Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin. Reps. Matt Cartwright and Susan Wild, vulnerable Democrats in Pennsylvania, conceded their races to their respective Republican challengers.
On the presidential level, Democrats – including those in the House – have already started pointing fingers.
Rep. Ritchie Torres, a pragmatic Democrat from New York, blamed the “far left” for Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss.
“Donald Trump has no greater friend than the far left, which has managed to alienate historic numbers of Latinos, Blacks, Asians, and Jews from the Democratic Party with absurdities like ‘Defund the Police’ or ‘From the River to the Sea’ or ‘Latinx,”’ Torres wrote on X.
“The working class is not buying the ivory-towered nonsense that the far left is selling.”