“Can we win the majority? Yes we can,” said Rep. Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), who heads the House GOP recruitment effort.
He and House GOP Whip Eric Cantor
Eric Ivan CantorSpanberger's GOP challenger raises over .8 million in third quarter The Hill's Campaign Report: Florida hangs in the balance Eric Cantor teams up with former rival Dave Brat in supporting GOP candidate in former district MORE (Va.) both offered
optimism at a Thursday breakfast with reporters in the wake of the big win for
their party in Massachusetts on Tuesday night.
But the GOP confidence seems to be growing with Tuesday’s victory by Republican Scott Brown in the Massachusetts Senate race. That’s helped motivate additional candidates vying for seats in traditionally Democratic strongholds, the Republicans said.
McCarthy said Brown carried seven of the 10 Congressional districts in Massachusetts, and noted that none are represented by a Republican.
“He carried [Democratic Rep.] Barney Frank’s district,” McCarthy said. “It tells me at a macro level that we have the ability to win the majority.”’
McCarthy said the number of Democratic retirements would prove key to the outcome.
Five House Democrats have announced they’ll retire at the end of the year and are not running for another office, including Reps. John Tanner (Tenn.), Brian Baird (Wash.), Dennis Moore (Kan.) and Vic Snyder (Ark.).
McCarthy told reporters that he called a number of potential candidates on the day after Brown’s victory. One of those recruits, Richard Hanna, announced on Wednesday he’d enter the 2010 race.
Hanna lost in 2008 by to Democratic Rep. Michael Acruri (N.Y).
Democrats largely dismissed Brown’s victory as a Coakley loss. They said their candidate was a poor one and took for granted a win in the liberal Bay State.
But Cantor said Massachusetts, coupled with GOP gubernatorial victories in Virginia and New Jersey, spoke to a general disdain at the agenda being pursued by Democrats in Washington.
