Dem loss in Georgia underscores party challenges

"She's less popular than Donald Trump in my district", Ryan told CNN's Don Lemon.

Republicans, meanwhile, can now breathe a sigh of relief with the knowledge that they can still win in the kind of affluent, educated districts that often favor Democrats - even with a president who has divided voters in their own party.

A number of Democrats, majority younger members, had tried to oust Pelosi past year after President Trump won the White House, and those lawmakers have revived that effort following Tuesday's special election in Georgia, where Democrat Jon Ossoff was defeated by Republican Karen Handel in the most expensive House race in the nation's history.

Trump's collapse in November - he beat Hillary Clinton by just 1.5 percentage points in a district that Mitt Romney had carried by 24 points four years earlier - was the sole reason national Democrats saw the race as potentially competitive.

Mrs Handel said at her victory rally that she knew it was going to "require all hands on deck" for Republicans to hold on to the district.

The Republicans are up 4-0 in special elections since the inauguration and, while they are all in Republican strongholds, Democrats thought they were in with a shot.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi says she's confident she has the support in her caucus despite finger-pointing and frustration after Democrats lost a Georgia special election.

And progressive activists' willingness to pour millions of dollars' worth of small-dollar online contributions into Ossoff's campaign - donations fueled nearly entirely by a desire to deal Trump a political setback - was what convinced Democrats to take the race seriously.

Democrats were hesitant to attack the President in such a historically heavily Republican district. She's raised more money for House Democrats than any other candidate in history who didn't run for president - about $560 million since taking the leader's chair in 2003, Politico reported. "We should go into these same districts and win in 2018".

But it isn't only previous Democratic critics of Pelosi who are calling for a change. "Time to stop rehashing 2016 and talk about the future", he continued in a series of tweets that within minutes became post-election news.

Democrats also lost a special election in SC on Tuesday, where Republican Ralph Norman prevailed over Democrat Archie Parnell in a seat formerly held by Republican Mick Mulvaney, who is now Mr Trump's budget director. She's less popular than Donald Trump in my district. "People want candidates who are true to themselves and authentic and run because of what they believe in". Republicans in Congress who are not inclined to hold the president's feet to the fire should get booted out. It's one thing to warn voters that the Republican is likely to go along with Trump's agenda; it's another to reel off a list of votes that betray working- and middle-class Americans.

"I think you'd have to be an idiot to think we could win the House with Pelosi at the top", he told Politico on Wednesday.

Republicans can enjoy some breathing room after winning a Georgia special congressional race that morphed from an afterthought in the usually conservative Atlanta suburbs into an expensive national proxy for Washington wars ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. He says the vote shows people want Congress to move forward with Trump's plans. "There's still more that we need to do - we're not there yet and we've got a year and a half to figure it out".

The New York lawmaker said he also was "disappointed" and the party would evaluate the results of all 2017 races and have a "healthy debate" in which members will "have an opportunity to express their concerns".

This points out the problem Democrats have that will continue to cause them to lose elections across the nation.