Democratic Party begins soul-searching as officials say they’re ‘furious’ with nationwide results

The Democratic Party has begun a soul-searching process after House leaders admitted to a “challenging” election that saw several lost seats in Congress and narrow margins in battlegrounds across the country.

It was far from the reckoning on Donald Trump’s presidency the party had hoped for: the Republican incumbent gained support across voting demographics, while the senate appeared set to remain under GOP control. Some analysts expected Democrats to gain as many as 15 additional House seats. By Thursday, the party seemed to have lost six.

Democrats held onto the House, but underperformed in several key races, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi seemed to acknowledge in a “Dear Colleague” letter to her colleagues.

Ms Pelosi described Tuesday as “a challenging election” for the party, but said she believed former Vice President Joe Biden had the votes to win the White House, writing that it’s “clear the Biden-Harris ticket will have enough votes to win the Electoral College”.

In a follow-up call on Thursday reported by the Washington Post, Ms Pelosi told House Democrats: “This has been a life-or-death fight for the very fate of our democracy. We did not win every battle, but we did win the war.”

Still, Democratic officials said they were “furious” with the election results.

Rep. Cheri Bustos (D—Ill), chairwoman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, reportedly said in a phone call with fellow House Democrats: “I’m furious. Something went wrong here across the entire political world."

“Our polls, senate polls, governor polls, presidential polls, Republican polls, public polls, turnout modeling, and prognosticators all pointed to one political environment,” she added. “That environment never materialized."

Her comments, first reported by CQ Roll Call’s Bridget Bowman, come as some Democrats call for fresh blood within the party’s leadership.

Rep. Filemon Vela (D—Tx) urged Rep. Tony Cardenas (D—Ca) to launch a bid to lead the party’s 2022 campaign operations in an interview with The Hill on Thursday, saying: “I think Tony would have a lot of support for DCCC. Maybe not automatic but a very clean shot.”

Ms Bustos has not said whether she plans to run again for her position. She herself faced a tight race that came down to the wire and had not been called until after Election Day.

Ms Pelosi has also not indicated whether she would run again for House speaker, though there is no evidence she would face a significant challenge at this moment from within the party.

The Democratic leadership elections will begin in two weeks, at which point the results of the election in states across the country will almost certainly have all been finalized. Republicans will also conduct their leadership elections at the same time. 

Ms Pelosi said the race proved to be a “steeper climb” with Mr Trump on the ballot during her Thursday call with Democrats, according to the Washington Post, and suggested her focus was not the upcoming party leadership elections, but rather the ones still underway.

“So far, of the 30 districts that Democrats currently hold that Trump won in 2016, we have won or are ahead in 70 percent of those races,” the House speaker noted. “My focus right now is to pursue even the slimmest path to victory in our outstanding races and ensure members and candidates have the resources they need to win as votes continue to be counted.”