In a post-election phone call, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairwoman Cheri Bustos (D., Ill.) and other House Democrats were irate that a forecasted blue wave "never materialized."
"I'm furious," Bustos told her Democratic House colleagues. "Something went wrong here across the entire political world. Our polls, Senate polls, gov polls, presidential polls, Republican polls, public polls, turnout modeling, and prognosticators all pointed to one political environment—that environment never materialized."
The meeting soon devolved into chaos.
Florida congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell cried over her loss and over her name being mispronounced. Virginia representative Abigail Spanberger lashed out against leftists' push to defund the police, which she said almost cost her reelection, and said that Democrats should never say "socialism" again. New Jersey representative Bill Pascrell called out Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer for not being present during election week and said House speaker Nancy Pelosi had "one hand tied behind her back."
House Democrats on the call allegedly leaked details on the call late Thursday afternoon to reporters, including one from the Washington Post, who then tweeted the details.
Trump and congressional Republicans have been outperforming the polls, drawing ire from Democrats. Fifty of the DCCC's 51 Red-to-Blue program candidates lost on Tuesday, while Republicans flipped 10 House seats.
Major national polls predicted Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden winning over President Donald Trump by wide margins for over a year. On Monday morning, Biden was up 7.2 points nationally, according to a RealClearPolitics national poll, and Democrats were favored to flip Senate seats in Iowa, Maine, and North Carolina.
While Biden has garnered more Electoral College votes as of Thursday afternoon, Trump's vote count is up in Alaska, Georgia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. Republicans have so far defended their Senate majority and, despite losing races in Arizona and Colorado, picked up one seat in Alabama and successfully defended five "tossup" seats.
As DCCC head, Bustos is tasked with securing Democratic victories in Congress.
Bustos, who won reelection to her congressional seat Tuesday, was first elected to lead the DCCC in 2012. In this election cycle, the DCCC raised $6 million less than in 2018, bringing in $290,590,400 for congressional Democrats.