Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, proclaimed Wednesday that Republicans may have built a “hundred-year majority” in the House.
"We're back to a majority as big as any of us have seen in our lifetimes. It may be a hundred-year majority," he said.House Republicans have swelled their majority to at least 243 and are on track for more pickups that would give them the biggest House majority since the Truman administration more than sixty years ago.
They could end up with as many as 249 seats, which would be the largest House Republican majority since 1930. That's well past their early goal of netting 11 seats for a 245 seat majority in the next Congress.
Walden’s language seemed to echo GOP strategist Karl Rove’s dream from ten years ago of building a “permanent” Republican majority in Washington.
But Daniel Scarpinato, a spokesman for the NRCC, said Walden was merely putting Tuesday’s resounding victory into historical context, not predicting decades of House GOP rule.
“His reference to a ‘hundred-year majority’ was that it’s been nearly 100 years since we’ve seen a majority this size," he said, noting a NRCC memo that pointed to those likely gains. “[He] wasn’t suggesting in any way that the majority is safe for 100 years.”
Walden and other GOP leaders exulted at a press conference at Republican National Committee headquarters after the election and promised big accomplishments such as tax reform.
They were encouraged not only by big gains in the Senate and House but also victories in gubernatorial and state legislative races across the country. more
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