House Democrat on party’s low approval: ‘We’ll take back the majority in 2026’
Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said she believes her party will take back the House majority in 2026 despite receiving its lowest approval rating in decades.
DelBene joined MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart on Sunday and was asked about the recent NBC News poll that found Democrats had reached a new low in popularity, with just 27 percent of voters saying they have a favorable opinion of the party.
“We have 13 Democrats who won in districts that President Trump also won in,” DelBene said, referring to November’s elections. “So, we were strong, we will continue to be strong. Another big reason why we’ll take back the majority in 2026.”
Thirteen Democrats won in districts that President Trump carried, and the party saw a net gain of one seat in the House in 2024. Just three Republicans won districts that former Vice President Kamala Harris won.
Separately, Democrats lost the battle for the White House and also saw Republicans win the Senate majority.
The rating was the lowest the Democratic Party’s seen since NBC began polling in 1990.
The survey noted it’s a shift from President Trump’s first term. While Democrats during Trump's first four years in office wanted their lawmakers to find areas of compromise, they now want their party to hold the line against the GOP majority and Trump administration.
As Democrats scramble to keep up with the administration’s actions and reassess where their priorities lie, the survey shows Democratic voters themselves are divided about how they view the party: 55 percent of respondents have a negative view about the Democratic Party and just 18 percent say they have a neutral view, the survey found.
The government shutdown debate that occurred last week showed real discrepancies in how Democrats want to handle combating the GOP agenda. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) drew the ire of some of his members after voting in favor of the continuing resolution bill instead of letting the government run out of money.
While the debate showed the gaps in the party, DelBene was confident Democrats would be able to regain the majority in the midterms.
“It’s understandable that given the actions of this president and House Republicans that we know that people are scared about what they’re seeing, scared about the impacts on their communities, but we overperformed across the country, actually gained seats in the House,” she said.
DelBene argued the reason House Democrats did well was because they spoke to voters about issues they knew were impacting their communities, including price hikes, housing and food cost increases, and issues of immigration and public safety.
“House Democrats took these issues head-on and talked to their communities,” she said. “We had authentic leaders, and those authentic leaders won.”