House Democrats started this month hoping, and preparing, to gain seats in the election. Instead, their once-robust majority in the House has dwindled and Democrats are on track to begin next year with the slimmest majority in decades.
Now members on the progressive left and party moderates are again at odds over whose policies won in 2020 and how they should govern as a party.
Some Democrats are frustrated that the debate is happening at all. Joe Biden won the presidential election, and Democrats will hold their majority in the House. While the control of the Senate is still to be decided, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., returned to Washington, D.C., after the election to celebrate the wins that have already materialized.
“We’ll be able to do great things for the American people,” Pelosi told reporters at a press conference. “We’ve lost some battles but we won the war. We have the gavel.”
Polling on both sides of the aisle showed Democrats with advantages in key districts in states like Texas and Indiana, where they hoped to gain new seats. Tight races in places like Iowa and New York broke in favor of Republicans when the votes were tallied.