House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said it would be a “steep climb” for the GOP to win back control of the House this fall.

The top House Republican said it’s too early to predict how many seats Republicans could win, but said the GOP has a “reasonable chance” of picking up the 40 seats necessary to win control of the House.

“Whether we can get to a majority or not is a steep climb, we’ve got a lot of work to do,” Boehner said during an appearance on Fox News. “I do think we have a reasonable chance, and we’re going to work to do that.”

Boehner has said as many as 100 seats are in play in November, and some other top House Republicans have said earlier this year they expect to win back the House this fall. Those sentiments were seen as signs of bourgeoning Republican optimism about this fall’s elections.

But a Democratic win in a special election in a centrist district in southwest Pennsylvania last week dampened GOP hopes for winning back the House, since seats like those are considered the type Republicans will have to win over in order to sweep to power this fall.

Boehner refused to predict just how many seats the Republicans could win.

“[N]o one can tell you how many seats we’re going to pick up,” Boehner said. “It’s way too early, no one has a number.”