election 2020
Pelosi reportedly declares election a 'big win' for Democrats. Moderate Democrat profanely disagrees.
Democrats gathered on a Thursday call to discuss the results of the 2020 election, and at least one lawmaker reportedly bluntly made her disappointment known.
Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) on a Democratic caucus call on Thursday afternoon reportedly went off on what she described as House Democrats' "failure" in this year's election, ABC News' Ben Siegel reports. Democrats are expected to maintain their House majority, but after the election, the party will "likely have fewer seats in January than it does now," CNBC reports. Still, Pelosi deemed Tuesday a "big win," per CNN's Manu Raju.
Spanberger clearly disagreed, reportedly saying, "We need to be pretty clear ... it was a failure. It was not a success. We lost incredible members of Congress." She also angrily told Democrats that "no one should say 'defund the police' ever again" and "nobody should be talking about socialism," adding that if the party doesn't change course for 2022, "We will get f---ing torn apart," Politico reports.
Pelosi reportedly rejected the idea that the election was a "failure" for Democrats, saying that "we won the House." She also reportedly told Democrats that "we did not win every battle but we won the war" and that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden "has a mandate," although a winner in the 2020 presidential race has not been declared.
But the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee reportedly also said on the call that "I'm furious" because "something went wrong here across the entire political world," promising to conduct a "post mortem."