House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said congressional Democrats are “defying political gravity” as control of Congress remained unclear on Wednesday.
Even as Donald Trump won the presidency and Republicans are set to take control of the Senate, Democrats are more hopeful about their chances of flipping control of the House of Representatives, where dozens of races were uncalled as of about 2 p.m. Wednesday.
Jeffries, a New York Democrat, expressed optimism about Democrats’ chances of flipping the House. In a statement, he wrote that House Democrats are “once again defying political gravity” in a “challenging electoral environment.”
“As a result of the enduring strength of our battle-tested incumbents, critical open seat holds in Virginia and Michigan, victories in Alabama and Louisiana and flipping four Republican-held seats in New York this year, the House remains very much in play,” he wrote
Jeffries added that the path to a majority runs through seats in Arizona, California, Iowa and Oregon.
As of 2:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Republicans had won 207 House seats, while the Democrats won 188 seats, according to CNN.
Newsweek reached out by email to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee for comment.
Which Battleground Seats Have Democrats, Republicans Won?
Democrats have so far flipped two House seats—New York’s 22nd District, where Democrat John Mannion unseated GOP Representative Brandon Williams, and Alabama’s 2nd District, where Democrat Shomari Figures won a newly drawn seat against Republican Caroleene Dobson.
Republicans flipped three seats in North Carolina that were redistricted from Democratic-leaning or competitive seats to more comfortable GOP seats.
In Pennsylvania’s 8th District, Republican Rob Bresnahan unseated Democratic Representative Matt Cartwright. Meanwhile, in Michigan’s 7th District, Republican Tom Barrett defeated Democrat Curtis Hertel in an open seat vacated by GOP Elissa Slotkin, who remained locked in a tight Senate race.
Democrat Kristen McDonald Rivet held on to the competitive seat in Michigan’s 8th District, which contains cities such as Flint and Saginaw.
