New York Democrat called Republicans 'jokes,' promised to win by an 'incredible margin,' and then lost his seat



The National Republican Congressional Committee got the last laugh at a mouthy New York Democrat who mocked his opponent and promised to win by an "incredible margin."

Rep. Max Rose (D-N.Y.) called his opponent a "joke," called the NRCC a "joke," and promised to win by an "incredible margin" in a video from October 2019.

"So first of all, I am not concerned at all by the NRCC or anyone that wants to try and challenge me, because they already tried once and we kicked their ass! OK?" said Rose at the time.

"And guess what, that's exactly what is going to happen again!" he added. "They have been absolute jokes, they will continue to be jokes, and I look forward to beating them by an incrediblemargin."

Rose was talking about Republican challenger Nicole Malliotakis, a New York state assemblywoman. Malliotakis made opposition to socialism and the law and order platform part of her campaign against the first-term congressman.

On Thursday, Rose conceded the race.

I received a gracious phone call from Rep. Max Rose today conceding the election. I want to thank him for his servi… https://t.co/0jEjH8S18H
— Nicole Malliotakis (@Nicole Malliotakis)1605214406.0

"Representing #NY11 has been the honor of my life," he said in a statement on Twitter. "I love Staten Island and Brooklyn. This is our home. No matter the challenges we face, I will be fighting with you."

Rose joins the surprising number of House Democrats who lost their seats to Republicans and thereby strengthened their opponents despite polling that made many believe Democrats would win greater control over the House. As of Thursday, Rose made 10 House seats that were flipped from Democrat to Republican control.

The NRCC posted the video of Rose's brash comments from 2019 and added its retort.

Not so tough now, are you @MaxRose4NY? #NY11 https://t.co/1FBDr6jwjP
— NRCC (@NRCC)1605218491.0

"Not so tough now, are you?" the NRCC tweeted.

Anguished Democrats blame anti-police and socialist messaging for election failures during emotional caucus phone conference



Democrats got emotional over their losses in the 2020 election during an anguished private Democratic Party phone conference on Thursday that was reported by several reporters on social media.

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) said on the call that if the Democrats "are going to run on Medicare for All, defund the police, socialized medicine, we're not going to win," according to Politico.

Moderate Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia agreed and scolded the party for pushing extreme messages that almost cost her a re-election bid.

"We need to be pretty clear," she reportedly said on the call, "It was a failure. It was not a success. We lost incredible members of Congress."

Spanberger specifically cited the "defund the police" messaging adopted from the "Black Lives Matter" movement as damaging to her election.

"We have to commit to not saying the words 'defund the police' ever again," she said.

"We need to not ever use the words socialist or socialism ever again," she says. "It does matter, and we have lost good members because of that.

"If we run this race again we will get f***ing torn apart again in 2022," she added, according to a Washington Post reporter.

Looked a lot like 2016

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.) promised to commission a post-mortem on the election, and blamed bad polling.

"Something went wrong," she said of the polls. "They all pointed to one political environment — but voters who turned out look a lot like 2016."

Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-Fla.), who lost her re-election bid to a Republican challenger, reportedly cried on the call and complained that people didn't know how to pronounce her name. She also told Democrats to stop being mean on Twitter.

Pelosi claims Biden has a mandate

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared to be locked into a narrative that despite their losses in the House of Representatives that Democrats had achieved a mandate from the voters for Joe Biden, whom she assumed would win the presidential election.

"Just remember: Joe Biden has a mandate. We have a mandate," she reportedly said before leaving the caucus call.

"We need to stop this nonsense"

At least one member complained publicly that Democrats were leaking details of the call to the press during the call.

"Some of my colleagues are literally live-leaking our internal Dem Caucus call right now to CNN, The Hill, NBC, Politico, etc," tweeted Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.).

Some of my colleagues are literally live-leaking our internal Dem Caucus call right now to CNN, The Hill, NBC, Poli… https://t.co/vzcvpXh5EG
— Rep. Jared Huffman (@Rep. Jared Huffman)1604608599.0

"I've gotten texts from 3 different reporters asking me to live-leak juicy details to them. No. We (Dems and the media) need to stop this nonsense," he added.

Here's more about the Democrats' disappointment:

Nancy Pelosi faces Democratic ouster calls over lackluster 2020 results | New York Postwww.youtube.com