Democrats are losing House seats and are set to give up three more as Republicans gain a growing lean in California as support seen in 2018 has not yet manifested itself in this year’s elections.
Analysts say the trend is a common occurrence for the Democratic party after they took the majority in 2018 in what is called the “blue wave.” In 2020, however, Joe Biden’s presidency could begin with a diminished majority as Democrats lose House seats across the nation.
Representatives Gil Cisneros, Harley Rouda, and TJ Cox, who have all previously been carried by the blue wave, are seeing themselves fall behind with a growing gap with Republicans since election day. Another example of an upset is watching Assemblymember Christy Smith’s lead on election night suddenly flip over in favor of GOP Representative Mike Garcia.
On Sunday, Garcia led the race with a slim 432-vote advantage over Smith. Despite the close race and the potential to come back from the deficit, Democrats are anxious not only from party leaders but also the candidates.
Rouda wrote in a fundraising email on Sunday that she started her day with thoughts of uncertainty of who would take his race. He also expressed his concerns about the possibility of Democrats winning both the presidency and the majority of the Senate.
House Republicans could add the potential wins in California to what is a surprisingly successful House election. Despite the predictions that Democrats would have a double-digit lead over Republicans, Speaker Nancy Pelosi observed their lead drop from 35 to just 19 seats. The uncertainty grows as several House elections remain undecided with tight counts, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Watchers are closely observing the House elections as Republicans hold only seven of 53 seats. Ongoing races, however, could potentially add up to four more seats to the GOP.
Dems are anxious about Republicans winning in Democratic-held districts, which would further undermine their majority in Congress. The current tallies come contrary to what Democrats expected to see before the election.
The upsets are a striking turn from the 2018 elections where Republicans saw their leads in key districts slowly grow in favor of Democrats, the KPBS reported.
So far, Democrats have nearly guaranteed wins in 15 separate districts that Donald Trump won over in 2016. They are expecting to add to their seats in Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New York over the next few days of counting.
On Friday, Pelosi told reporters that their original goal was to maintain the majority of the House seats and that they have reached their objective. She added they had hoped to win more and are still in the running for additional seats.
The house speaker said they might have lost some battles across the nation but noted they have ultimately won the war. Pelosi said most of the Democrats who lost were confronted with the issue of Trump being on the ballot.
However, there were some vital optimistic points for Democrats on Friday, such as Carolyn Bourdeaux officially flipping Atlanta for the first time in 25 years.
On Thursday, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) released a memo where officials expressed their certainty of winning several races that remain undecided. They shared their confidence with taking the win in Illinois with Lauren Underwood, Nevada with Susie Lee, and New York with Antonio Delgado.
Nonpartisan data guru in California, Paul Mitchell, said that even if late mail-in ballots were Democratic, they would not be enough to solidly give the Dems a similar win to the 2018 incident. He added that Republicans voted later as Democrats voted earlier, leaving a thin margin for the late votes to favor either party, Politico reported.
