Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez spoke Friday at the Texas AFL-CIO Convention in Houston, where he blamed Democrats' loss in the Georgia sixth district special election on gerrymandering.
Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff lost the special congressional election on Tuesday night to Republican candidate Karen Handel by almost 4 points.
"I know folks were a little disappointed earlier this week. There were some elections in Georgia and South Carolina that we didn't quite get to the finish line on, but you know what folks? Those are beet red districts," Perez said.
Perez attempted to downplay the loss by saying that former Rep. Tom Price (R., Ga.), who is now serving as President Donald Trump's secretary of health and human services, won the district by 24 points last November and Ossoff narrowed the gap by only losing by 4 points.
"That was [former Speaker of the House] Newt Gingrich's old seat, heavily gerrymandered by Georgia," Perez said.
Perez said the Democratic candidates in the South Carolina and Kansas special elections also narrowed the gap before discussing the 2018 races to take back the House.
"There are 71 House congressional seats that are more competitive than Georgia's sixth," Perez said. "Seventy-one, and you know what? We'll be playing in all of them. And you know what? We are going to be electing Democrats right here in Texas."
After losing four special elections, Perez and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) have come under scrutiny by several Democrats for what they perceive as a lack of leadership, causing many to worry about their chances in the 2018 House elections.