Kevin McCarthy touts special election House victories: ‘A whole different change is arising’

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday predicted redemption for the GOP in 2020 as two new Republican lawmakers were sworn into Congress.

The California Republican took a victory lap with the GOP’s newest members of the House — Mike Garcia of California and Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin.

“What’s interesting to me is that the Democrats aren’t talking much about it because they planned on winning these two seats. A whole different change is arising,” he said. “This is an early indication of November.”

Mr. McCarthy cited two other cases — May 2010 in Hawaii with a GOP victory and November 2018 with a Democratic victory — where the winning side ultimately took control of the House months later.

On the offensive to retake the majority come November, the GOP now only needs to flip 17 seats — though there are a handful of retirement seats Republicans will need to fight to hold onto in North Carolina and Texas.

Mr. Tiffany, a state senator endorsed by President Trump, won his conservative district by a whopping 14 points.

Mr. Trump won this particular district by 20 points in 2016, but only took Wisconsin overall by less than a point. Securing core conservative districts like Mr. Tiffany’s will be important for the president’s reelection efforts.

Mr. Garcia’s victory in California was a major boon for the GOP in a state where they’ve been struggling.

Republicans hadn’t flipped a House seat in California in more than 20 years, while six of the 40 districts Democrats flipped in 2018 were in red California territory.

Mr. Garcia, a former Navy fighter pilot, is taking over Rep. Katie Hill’s seat.

Ms. Hill, a former freshman member of leadership, resigned from Congress after nude photos of her were leaked to the press and allegations of her having an affair with staffers circulated.

Both Mr. Garcia and Mr. Tiffany, who were sworn in Tuesday morning by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, told reporters they’ve signed onto the Republicans’ discharge petition as one of their first official acts. If the petition gets 218 signatures, it can force a vote on anti-infanticide legislation.