Top Democrat: 'We’ll lose some seats'


Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) said Democrats are facing an "uphill slog" this cycle, but she's confident that the party's losses in November won't be enough to give the GOP a majority.

"We're facing an uphill slog; I think we'll lose some seats," Wasserman Schultz told The Hill. "I'm confident we're going to retain the House."

Wasserman Schultz is currently a vice chairwoman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. In past cycles, she helped lead the DCCC's "Red to Blue" program, which supports promising challengers running in Republican-held districts.

The program is one of the reasons the Democrats won't lose the House, said Wasserman Schultz.

"Our goal was to put about 20 seats in play, and our Red to Blue program is actually grown larger than 20 seats now," she said. "We feel really good about more than 20 candidates who are running either in open seats held by Republicans or running against Republican incumbents. We have a lot of optimism."

She said Red to Blue candidates have to meet fundraising and campaign infrastructure benchmarks in order to qualify for the program.

"Unlike the Republicans, we don't just stick 104 people who happen to put their name on the ballot on our program. You actually have to earn your way onto our program," said the three-term congresswoman. "That's why we have a smaller number of candidates on our program, because our program means something."

The National Republican Congressional Committee has a similar challenger program called "Young Guns," which has more than 100 members.

Wasserman Schultz admitted the caucus is having a hard time striking a balance between conservative and progressive members on spending versus deficit reduction.

"That has been a struggle; it will continue to be a struggle," she said. "I don't think the deficit is going to be an issue that members' elections rise and fall on. It's not the deficit; it's the economy. Jobs and the economy are the thing that people are the most concerned about. Our members, when running for reelection, that’s their No. 1 priority."

This election will be about presenting voters with a choice, Wasserman Schultz said.

"Our incumbent members are going to say to their constituents, 'Do we want to backslide toward the Bush era? Where policy was focused only on the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans?' " she said. “ 'Or do you want to continue to go in the direction we're going in now?' "

In other parts of her interview, she talked about how Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) was her role model and the challenge of serving in the House while raising a family.