In Minnesota stop, Pelosi insists U.S. House in play
Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the top Democrat in the U.S. House, said Tuesday in Minnesota that disarray in the Republican Party relating to presidential nominee Donald Trump has invigorated her party as it mounts a long-shot bid to reclaim Congress.
Pelosi, a former House speaker aiming to return to that post, voiced confidence that Democrats could flip 30 seats in the November election, including two in Minnesota.
“I feel very confident if the election were held today we could win it all, but the election isn't today," Pelosi told an audience at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey School of Public Affairs. "Twenty-eight days is 28 eternities."
Later, Pelosi told reporters that she's worried about an onslaught of money in competitive races as Republican donors refocus on preserving House and Senate majorities as Trump's chances dwindle, if recent polls are to be trusted.
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"We own the ground in the districts we are going to run in and that will help the Senate and that will help Hillary Clinton. We have great messengers. Our candidates are superb. I'm very proud of them. It's not as if all of the sudden this opportunity came along that the disarray in the Republican Party is providing. We've been ready to win for a long time," Pelosi said. "Now that's today. It's four weeks from now. What I worry about is the influx of big special interest money just coming in to confuse."
Pelosi's visit included a fundraiser featuring Minnesota congressional candidates Terri Bonoff, a state senator trying to unseat Republican Rep. Erik Paulsen in the western suburbs, and Angie Craig, a political newcomer running in the race to succeed Republican Rep. John Kline in the eastern suburbs.
The moderator of Tuesday's discussion, political science professor Larry Jacobs, said House Republicans enter the final month of the campaign in a commanding position even if Trump is trounced in his race with Democrat Hillary Clinton.
"There's no chance based on what I'm seeing now that the Democrats are going to win the House," Jacobs said, adding, "They have to pick up 30 seats and they're just not there."
In the nearly 90-minute event, Pelosi discounted the idea that gridlock would persist in Washington no matter the November outcome. She said she hopes Republicans would work with a President Clinton, something that has been rare during the final years of Democrat Barack Obama's presidency.
"What's happened right now is not dysfunction, it's obstruction," she said. "They want to obstruct anything that the president wants to do."
Pelosi didn't say much about how Democrats would receive a Trump presidency, even refusing to say his name when referring to him on multiple occasions.
Afterward, Pelosi was asked to comment on a Trump tweet that he considered himself "unshackled" amid a growing rift with Republicans on Capitol Hill.
"What have we seen so far? We've seen massive demonstration of lack of knowledge about the issues. And if you don't know what the challenges are, how can you have judgment on them?" Pelosi said. "And if you have a temperament that felt shackled, God knows what happens after that."