Republican lawmaker says GOP will lose the House in November

Rep. Tony Gonzales believed that House Republicans, who hold a razor-thin majority in the lower chamber, will lose the House in November.

Republicans have had a rocky tenure since gaining control of the House after the 2022 midterms, and Mr. Gonzales, Texas Republican, predicted that the GOP’s dysfunction and focus on politics over issues that matter to voters, like the economy, will be the reason the party loses the lower chamber.

“What’s frustrating me is I firmly believe that House Republicans are going to lose the majority — and we’re going to lose it because of ourselves,” Mr. Gonzales said at the Texas Tribune Festival on Thursday.

Mr. Gonzales recently survived a highly contentious primary race against guns-rights activist and YouTuber Brandon Herrara, who was supported by conservative lawmakers like Rep. Matt Gaetz, Florida Republican, and House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good, Virginia Republican.

During his remarks, he also noted that Democrats were vastly outraising Republicans.

Indeed, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has outraised the National Republican Congressional Committee in July and August, and has raised more throughout this election cycle, $228.4 million, than its GOP counterpart, which has so far raised $173.4 million.

Republicans were confident that when President Biden was still atop the ticket that they could maintain and grow their majority. However, the playing field changed when Vice President Kamala Harris took over, and rode a wave of momentum in the polls.

Several seats have shifted to favor either party in recent weeks, and election predictors believe that control of the House is largely a toss-up, though Republicans still have a slight edge over Democrats. Republicans control 220 seats in the lower chamber compared to Democrats’ 211, and would need a net gain of four seats to win the lower chamber.

The GOP is set to take a political gamble when they return next week that could have effects from the top of the ticket all the way down the ballot with a short term funding patch that includes legislation that requires proof of citizenship to vote.

The stopgap bill will likely not fly with most Democrats in the House, and be totally rejected by the Democrat-led Senate and White House, which raises the odds of a partial government shutdown that the GOP could be blamed for ahead of the Nov. 5 election.