It's no wonder that Democratic Rep. Cedric Richmond (LA-02) announced his exit to join the incoming Biden administration so quickly. House Democrats' majority in the next Congress is looking so narrow that there are only a handful of vacancies Speaker Nancy Pelosi can afford. Richmond jumped to claim one, and it's unlikely other Democrats hoping for administration jobs will be granted escape hatches.
As the vote count marches on, Democrats appear to be headed for a majority of 222 or 223 seats - a 10 or 11 seat loss. And although both the Democratic and GOP leadership teams were uneventfully renominated this week in party meetings, Pelosi can only afford defections the size of the four-member "Squad" and still get reelected Speaker in January - let alone pass legislation.
Republicans continue to catch most of the breaks in uncalled races. In the past week, Democratic Rep. Ben McAdams (UT-04) conceded to GOP challenger Burgess Owens and Democrat Jackie Gordon conceded to Republican Andrew Garbarino in New York's 2nd CD. Democrats' best news: Rep. Tom Malinowski (NJ-07) getting a concession call
Subscribe Today
Our subscribers have first access to individual race pages for each House, Senate and Governors race, which will include race ratings (each race is rated on a seven-point scale) and a narrative analysis pertaining to that race.