House Democrats’ path to the majority is rapidly narrowing. The blame game over what went wrong is only just starting.
In a subdued, somber call, their first since Tuesday’s election, Democratic leaders projected confidence in their party and told lawmakers to wait to see the results of the races that still haven’t been called — as many rank-and-file members are starting to air grievances.
Democrats felt their leadership set expectations for how the call would go when Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told lawmakers to sit tight, according to two people on the call, and Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), who was formerly whip of the House Democrats, told Democrats to stand with their leaders but to speak for themselves and their races rather than for the caucus as a whole.
Jeffries in a statement issued just before the caucus call said he congratulated Trump but believed House control was still up in the air.
“It has yet to be decided who will control the House of Representatives in the 119th Congress. We must count every vote and wait until the results in Oregon, Arizona and California are clear,” he said.
One Democratic lawmaker who requested anonymity to speak freely told POLITICO they believe the call was calm as some incumbent Democrats are finding out they’ve lost their races and added they believed next week’s in-person caucus meeting will be where the real fireworks will happen.
“We need to be much more assertive when we’re telling leadership [what we think went wrong],” the lawmaker said.
But outside of the caucus call, Democrats from all sides of the party have begun sharing their thoughts on why they performed so poorly on Tuesday despite expectations that Vice President Kamala Harris could win and Democrats could flip the House.
One centrist Democrat, Rep. Tom Suozzi of New York, blamed the party’s perceived lean into political correctness for why they lost the election.
“Democrats need to focus more on issues Americans care about, like wages and benefits, and less on being politically correct,” he said in a press release also posted on X. “We failed as a party to respond to the Republican weaponization of anarchy on college campuses, defund the police, biological boys playing in girls’ sports, and a general attack on traditional values.”
Lawmakers are scheduled to return to Washington next week, though House Democrats aren’t expected to hold their leadership elections until the week after. House Democratic leaders had largely been expected to slot up a rung if they took back the House, though being relegated to the minority again could shake up their plans.
Republicans currently have the lead in the vote count, but control of the House still remains in question. Democrats had staked their path to the majority on flipping Republican-held seats largely in New York and California, and so far three of the New York seats have flipped to Democrats. Races in California will take longer to count.
But Democrats’ remaining paths to the majority are closing off after a handful of losses, including incumbents Susan Wild and Matt Cartwright and an open seat in Michigan.