Rep. Tony Gonzales believes House Republicans, who hold a razor-thin majority in the lower chamber, will lose the House in November.
Republicans have had a difficult time since taking control of the House after the 2022 midterm elections, and Mr. Gonzales, a Texas Republican, predicted that the GOP’s dysfunction and focus on politics at the expense of issues that matter to voters, like the economy, will be the reason the party loses the lower chamber.
“What frustrates me is that I firmly believe that House Republicans are going to lose the majority — and we’re going to lose it because of ourselves,” Gonzales said at the Texas Tribune Festival on Thursday.
Mr. Gonzales recently survived a highly contentious primary against gun rights activist and YouTuber Brandon Herrara, who was backed by conservative lawmakers including Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, and House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good, Republican of Virginia.
During his speech, he also noted that Democrats were raising significantly more money than Republicans.
Indeed, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee outraised the National Republican Congressional Committee in July and August, raising more this election cycle, $228.4 million, than its Republican counterpart, which has raised $173.4 million so far.
Republicans were confident that when President Biden was still in the lead, they could maintain and expand their majority. However, that changed when Vice President Kamala Harris took office and rode a wave of enthusiasm in the polls.
Several seats have flipped to either party in recent weeks, and election analysts say control of the House of Representatives is largely uncertain, although Republicans still have a slight edge over Democrats. Republicans control 220 seats in the lower chamber to Democrats’ 211, and they would need a net gain of four seats to win the lower chamber.
The GOP is poised to take a political gamble in its comeback next week that could have effects from the top of the ticket to the bottom of the ballot, with a short-term funding plan that includes legislation requiring proof of citizenship to vote.
The stopgap bill is unlikely to be welcomed by most House Democrats and will be rejected outright by the Democratic-led Senate and White House, raising the risk of a partial government shutdown that the GOP could be blamed for before the Nov. 5 election.
washingtontimes
