Though Republicans seized control of the presidency and the Senate Tuesday night, Democrats have held onto the prospect of a majority in the House—but now that hope, too, is slipping.
While it’s still technically possible, the Democrats’ last-ditch chance relies on flipping a significant number of GOP seats in yet-to-be-called races in western states like Arizona and California, while defending most of their own remaining vulnerable seats.
Republicans are hoping to maintain, if not add to, their existing five-seat majority.
This is to say it isn’t looking good for Democrats, and Axios has reported that a number of the party’s members in the House are nervous, if not outright perturbed.
One House Democrat characterized the mood of the caucus to Axios as a mix of “shock, sadness, anger, frustration, disappointment.”
Another admitted that their party has a “very outside chance” of flipping the balance of power.
Noting that they would need to nearly make a perfect run in the remaining California and Arizona races, another lawmaker said the outlook was “deeply troubling.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, though, has yet to draw any conclusions about how the battle for control will end.
“The party that will hold the majority in the House of Representatives in January 2025 has yet to be determined,” he said, explaining that “the path to take back the majority now runs through too close to call pick-up opportunities” in the western states.
Axios reported that the House Democrats will hold a meeting midday on Thursday, while the caucus’s leadership will convene on Wednesday night.
“There needs to be some serious looking in the mirror as Democrats, and we have to take accountability,” a House Democrat told Axios.
Almost every corner of the country saw a shift red last night. Donald Trump won the presidency decisively—set to win both the electoral and popular vote—while Republicans are projected to have a several-seat majority in the Senate.
