Well, the road to the House majority just got a lot more claustrophobic for House Democrats. If you were hoping for a victory lap, you might want to skip the victory speeches. The blame game has officially kicked off, and it’s about to get as messy as a spaghetti fight in a kindergarten class.
After Tuesday’s election, the mood in the Democratic camp was less “We’re gonna take back the House!” and more “Please, please, let’s wait for more votes to come in.” Their first call after the election was predictably subdued. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries took the mic and told everyone to sit tight, as if some magical ballot fairy would swoop in and turn the tide. Meanwhile, Rep. Jim Clyburn—remember, this is the guy who practically invented House Democratic leadership—had some sage advice: stand with the leadership but, uh, maybe speak only for your district and not the entire caucus? You know, in case you were feeling too optimistic.
Jeffries, ever the optimistic leader, managed to squeeze out a statement just before the call, congratulating Trump (because what else are you going to do at this point?) while asserting that House control is still a mystery. “We must count every vote,” he said, like this was some new revolutionary idea and not just basic democracy. The suspense is killing us.
Behind the scenes, though, whispers are getting louder. An anonymous lawmaker told Politico the call was “calm,” but we all know that’s code for “everyone’s too scared to speak up right now.” The real drama? That’s probably coming next week when they finally meet in person. You know, because nothing says “we’re a unified party” like airing your grievances face-to-face. The insiders are already bracing for it, ready to unleash their fury on leadership for mismanaging this whole circus.
Meanwhile, as the party flounders, various Democrats have already decided they’re experts on why the party got steamrolled. First up, centrist Democrat Rep. Tom Suozzi of New York, who was quick to blame the party’s love affair with political correctness. According to Suozzi, the reason they lost wasn’t because people might not have wanted to vote for them—it’s because the Democrats are too busy “being woke.” Suozzi thinks they should’ve spent more time focusing on bread-and-butter issues like wages, and less time worrying about things like, you know, whether it’s acceptable to call people by their preferred pronouns. Oh, and the GOP’s attack on “traditional values,” whatever that means. It’s classic finger-pointing without actually addressing the larger issue at hand, but hey, we can’t all be self-aware.
And yet, here they are—back in Washington next week, preparing to pick up the pieces. Of course, House Democratic leaders had originally planned for a smooth transition to a majority, but now, it seems they might be settling in for a second-rate show as the minority. And the fun part? Leadership elections aren’t even happening until after all this mess, so expect some serious scrambling to figure out who’s still in charge.
Right now, Republicans have the upper hand in the vote count, though the House is still technically up for grabs. Democrats were banking on flipping seats in New York and California, and so far, three New York seats have been claimed. But California’s races are dragging their feet, meaning the fat lady hasn’t even sung yet.
But here’s the kicker: Democrats’ slim hopes of seizing the majority are quickly evaporating, thanks to losses like those of incumbents Susan Wild and Matt Cartwright, and a surprising open seat loss in Michigan. So, while the rest of the country holds its breath waiting for results, Democrats can look forward to the most awkward leadership meetings since the 2020 election, when they thought they’d be riding high. Now, it’s a race to the bottom.
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