Democrats predicted they’d see a blue wave on down ballot races but as of Wednesday morning, those hopes have been dashed. Appearing on MSNBC, Politico’s Jake Sherman told viewers in no uncertain terms that the 2020 election was an “abject disaster” for Democrats waking up in Washington.
“There’s no other way to explain this,” he said.
.@JakeSherman: "Democrats in Washington are waking up to an abject disaster, and there’s no other way to explain this." pic.twitter.com/Uv5I6RO05s
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) November 4, 2020
The same message went out to readers in the Playbook:
TUESDAY WAS AN ABJECT DISASTER for Democrats in Washington. To imagine the amount of soul searching and explaining the party will have to do after Tuesday is absolutely dizzying. The infighting will be bloody -- as it should be. We fielded text after text from Hill Democrats Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning with existential questions about their leadership and the direction of their party.
DEMOCRATS TOLD US in the weeks and months leading up to Election Day that they were on track to win the majority in the Senate, and they don’t appear poised to do that. Donors gave $90 million to lose to Senate Majority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL, $108 million to lose to Sen. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.) and $24 million to lose to Sen. JOHN CORNYN (R-Texas). GOP Sen. STEVE DAINES won in Montana. GOP Sen. THOM TILLIS is up in North Carolina. GOP Sen. DAVID PERDUE is above 50% in Georgia, at the moment. Sen. SUSAN COLLINS is narrowly ahead in Maine -- despite Democrat SARA GIDEON raising $69 million. Iowa Sen. JONI ERNST won her bid for a second term. Andrew Desiderio and James Arkin on the state of play in the Senate
DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS TOLD US that Dems would win a dozen seats in the House, and knock off a whole host of Republican incumbents, and that was completely wrong. Instead, Republicans -- powered by the NRCC and CLF -- beat a bunch of Democratic incumbents. The GOP added women to their ranks. They beat Minnesota Rep. COLLIN PETERSON after a few decades of trying. Republicans beat two Democratic incumbents in the Miami area -- DEBBIE MUCARSEL-POWELL and DONNA SHALALA. NANCY MACE beat Rep. JOE CUNNINGHAM in South Carolina. Democratic Rep. MAX ROSE appears to be done in Staten Island. Democratic Reps. XOCHITL TORRES SMALL of New Mexico and KENDRA HORN of Oklahoma both have lost.
INSTEAD OF SITTING SOMEWHERE in the 180s, Republicans have north of 200 House seats, making themselves an extremely powerful minority no matter who wins the White House.
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Fox News's Chad Pergram explained what the implications are now:
2) But so far, across the board, House Democrats have consistently failed to flip seats held by vulnerable Republicans, and, repeatedly losing districts Democrats flipped from red to blue in 2018.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) November 4, 2020
4) Democrats were also in competitive races to win suburban seats held by Reps. Steve Chabot (R-OH), Ann Wagner (R-MO), and seats held by retiring Reps. Susan Brooks (R-IN) and Pete Olson (R-TX). But so far, hardly any races have broken in the direction of Democrats.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) November 4, 2020
6) At best, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) holds a small majority. That could produce echoes of 2016 as some Democrats questioned Pelosi’s leadership and delayed leadership elections.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) November 4, 2020
8) The fact that Democrats failed to expand their majority means there will be recriminations for Pelosi and other Democratic leaders.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) November 4, 2020
9) Now, let’s go to realpolitik.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) November 4, 2020
Such a narrow turning radius means Pelosi can’t hold out for a large coronavirus package. She will face pressure from moderates on both sides to make a smaller deal soon.
And don’t forget: they have to fund the government in December.
“We defied the odds. It’s the night of the Republican women," House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Wednesday morning. "The Democrats never solved one problem in their majority. They promised they would govern differently, and they didn’t.”
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