On Sunday's CNN State of the Union, anchor Jake Tapper displayed a rare random act of journalism in pushing back on the constant gloating among Democrats over their better-than-expected performance in the midterms. Tapper was quick to note how despite not getting wiped out completely, they did lose control of the United States House of Representatives, so it "wasn't exactly a vote of confidence in House Democrats."
In an interview with Democrat Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, Tapper noted the high praise of the election results from Jeffries despite his party still losing the House.
Tapper sought to pour cold water on his midterm gloating: "you're portraying a very rosy scenario about how well Democrats are doing. You just lost the House. I mean, your party was just defeated at the House," Tapper noted. "I get that it wasn't as bad a defeat as it could have been, but it wasn't exactly a vote of confidence in House Democrats."
Jeffries retorted that Democrats had a "historic overperformance by every single measure," noting how over the last 100 years the party that controls the White House and one or both houses of Congress, "the average loss of seats is 27 [seats]."
He then went on to gloat that Democrats "held key governorships in the heartland of America in Pennsylvania and Michigan and Wisconsin, and of course flipped state legislative bodies including in Michigan and one house in Pennsylvania, which is almost unheard of in a midterm election."
Tapper got in another dig at Jeffries, quipping that "I notice you're not mentioning New York there because Democrats didn't do too well in New York, and I know you said you want to get an after-action report on that."
Tapper was of course referring to the fact that Republicans flipped four Democrat seats in New York state, which ended up being the most of any state in the country during the 2022 midterms and was a big factor in GOP winning control of the House of Representatives.
To read the relevant transcript, click "expand":
CNN’s State of the Union
11/20/2022
9:09:11 a.m. EasternJAKE TAPPER: I want to ask you, though, you're portraying a very rosy scenario about how well Democrats are doing. You just lost the House. I mean, your party was just defeated at the House. I get that it wasn't as bad a defeat as it could have been, but it wasn't exactly a vote of confidence in House Democrats.
REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES: Well, what I'll say is that it was historic overperformance by every single measure, almost beyond comparison when you look at the last 100 years, when there's a single party in power that controls the House, the Senate, and the presidency, in a President's first midterm election, the average loss of seats is 27. In fact, I think in 2010, in a similar scenario, we lost about 63 seats, and so obviously, it was an incredibly strong performance under very difficult circumstances.
But you're correct, Jake, we're not satisfied, our top nongovernmental goal must be reclaiming the House in 2024, and I'm committed to making sure that that happens for the good of the American people. But if you take a step back, we held the Senate. Election deniers are on the run, have gone down in flames, have been defeated all across America, held key governorships in the heartland of America in Pennsylvania and Michigan and Wisconsin, and of course flipped state legislative bodies including in Michigan and one house in Pennsylvania, which is almost unheard of in a midterm election.
TAPPER: Yeah, I notice you're not mentioning New York there because Democrats didn't do too well in New York, and I know you said you want to get an after-action report on that.
