House Dems blame losses on polls and bad strategy

WASHINGTON — Their majority shrunk, House Democrats cast blame Thursday on everything from errant polling to their election message, ground game and leadership under Speaker Nancy Pelosi after expectations for big wins came crashing down by a stark reversal in Trump country.

They focused too narrowly on health care, when voters were also worried about the economy.

They failed to fight back when Republicans labeled them “socialists” aligned with the party’s most liberal firebrands.

They didn’t knock on doors to meet voters, focusing instead on phone calls, digital outreach and TV ads, because of the health risks of campaigning during the pandemic.

They lost Latino voters in some places, andwhite, working class men in others.

They didn’t pass more COVID aid through Congress when Americans needed help most.

And perhaps most importantly, Democrats are coming to grips with the fact that whether President Donald Trump is e-elected or is defeated by rival Joe Biden, they still have a problem understanding and winning over Trump voters.

Polling was clearly a problem on all sides, strategists said. Republicans, too, thought they were heading toward losses but instead made gains.

Just as in 2016, Trump backers confounded pollsters by supporting him and other Republican candidates in far greater numbers than predicted.

Democrats agreed they now need to learn how to win back the Trump voters they’ve lost.

“Is there something that we’re missing about these Trump voters? said Rep. Ami Bera, D- Ca., a member of the centrist House New Democrat Coalition. “Because we certainly saw a lot of Trump voters show up.”

Lawmakers unloaded during a caucus call Thursday — Democratic freshman Rep. Abigail Spanberger, in a tight race in Virginia, spoke with “passion” about the party’s campaign failures, according to a person familiar with the private call.

Pelosi tried to remind them that Biden is on the verge of replacing Trump, and House Democrats are on track to keep their majority, according to another person familiar with the call.

“We did not win every battle but we did win the war,” Pelosi said.

But expectations had been raised sky high for election night gains and thatmade the setbacks all the more disorienting.

Rather than bolstering their majority, as planned, Democrats lost a handful of freshman lawmakers who had just won in a 2018 midterm election backlash against the president. They also failed to add to their ranks as Republicans defeated one Democratic challenger after another.

Asked what went wrong, one Democratic strategist said: “All of the above.”