McCarthy suggests GOP could gain House seats in election

Republicans this November could grow their historic 246-seat majority in the House, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy suggested on Monday.

Asked how many seats the GOP would lose in the fall, the California Republican turned the question back on reporters: “Why do you think we’re going to lose? … The real question will be how many seats can we gain.”

{mosads}It’s a bold prediction from the No. 2 House Republican. The GOP is enjoying its largest majority since the time Babe Ruth was still swinging a bat, meaning Republicans are defending more seats than Democrats.  

Election prognosticators, including The Cook Political Report, are projecting that Republicans could lose up to 20 seats. And in recent weeks, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has argued that the party’s brash presidential nominee, Donald Trump, will be such a drag on down-ballot Republicans that the entire chamber could flip to Democratic control. 

Democrats would need to win back 30 seats — essentially a wave election — for that to happen.

But in a phone call earlier Monday, just hours before the first presidential debate, McCarthy told Trump that the House GOP’s electoral outlook is improving as Trump rises in the polls. 

“I internally have not seen one poll where a Republican incumbent is behind. I think we are in a much stronger position than anyone has thought in the past,” McCarthy told reporters in a briefing in his Capitol office.

“As [Trump’s] numbers go up, our numbers go up as well. … And if I was to predict, if the election was today, the Senate would stay Republican.”

Democrats scoffed at McCarthy’s House prediction.

“It makes sense that Kevin McCarthy and Donald Trump spoke on the phone today since clearly they both share a penchant for outright lying,” said Meredith Kelly, a spokeswoman for House Democrats’ campaign arm. “To suggest at this point, when Democrats have recruited deep into the Republican map and with toxic Trump atop the ticket, that House Republicans will pick up seats is laughable, as evidenced by many public polls.”

McCarthy wouldn’t share what private debate advice he offered to Trump, only saying that the point of the call was to wish him good luck. But the majority leader said he speaks with the New York businessman regularly to discuss all sorts of topics. 

Both McCarthy and House Republican Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) are hosting a debate watch party for lawmakers Monday night at a restaurant in downtown D.C.