Pelosi says, 'I believe we will win the House'

Photo Source: By US Department of Labor

Despite grim omens for House Democrats in November, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi expects her party to hold the House.

Pelosi was asked for her midterm prediction on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" on Oct. 3.

“I believe that we will win the House—hold the House,” Pelosi said. “And we will hold the House—by winning more seats.”

Pelosi has remained adamant that her party will retain control of the lower chamber despite widespread expectation that Republicans will return to the majority in 2023.

In 2018, Democrats rode a “blue wave” to retake control of the House from Republicans, but the GOP retained control of the Senate. In 2020, Democrats’ margins shrunk substantially. At the moment, Pelosi can only absorb a handful of defections to avoid a vote failing.

Pelosi continued, “We won the 40 seats [during the 2018 midterms], then we lost some when Trump was on the ballot—we lost some of the Trump districts—but we held enough seats to hold the House with him on the ballot.”

As of the afternoon of Oct. 4, polling firm FiveThirtyEight gave Republicans a 69 in 100 chance of retaking the House after four years in the minority. However, prospects in the Senate are less sanguine for Republicans, and most observers expect that Democrats will retain the upper chamber—forcing Democrats to brace for the possibility of a divided government in 2023.

5 October 2022