By Nolan D. McCaskill
WASHINGTON, May 11 (Reuters) - Democrats will win control of the U.S. House of Representatives in November, Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries vowed in a letter to colleagues on Monday that also pledged to "bury" Republicans "with a massive Democratic redistricting counteroffensive" ahead of the 2028 presidential election.
The defiant letter to members of the House Democratic Caucus asserts that the party is well positioned to net the three seats required to win a House majority
in the midterms despite recent setbacks by the U.S. Supreme Court and Virginia's highest state court, which have, respectively, allowed Republican-led states across the South to redraw their maps without majority-minority districts and nullified a voter-approved map in Virginia that could have given Democrats four new seats previously held by Republicans.
Republicans hold a narrow 217-212 majority in the House, where one independent caucuses with Republicans. Five seats are vacant due to deaths and resignations. President Donald Trump launched a national mid-decade redistricting war last year when he urged Texas to draw a new map in an effort to buck historical trends that suggest Democrats would win back the House for the final two years of his presidency.
A Democratic House majority would stall the president's agenda, and Democrats would have the power to investigate the president and his administration through congressional committees.
Democrats are campaigning on affordability, citing the high cost of living and soaring gas prices. A Reuters/Ipsos poll last month found the president's approval had dropped to 34%, the lowest of his current term.
"Donald Trump is deeply unpopular and Republicans have failed to make life better for the American people," Jeffries wrote. "Instead of changing direction, GOP extremists are scheming to change the electoral composition of districts throughout the country."
Republicans are winning the redistricting battle against Democrats this cycle, but that's no guarantee they will retain control of the chamber this fall.
REPUBLICANS LEAD REDISTRICTING BATTLE
Jeffries said Democrats in the Congressional Black Caucus and national civil rights groups are pushing back against racial gerrymanders in the Deep South, while there's ongoing litigation in four states and "several others are taking steps to decisively respond to what the U.S. Supreme Court has unleashed."
The Democratic leader - who has previously indicated Republicans went too far in redrawing new Republican districts, making others more competitive in the process - said Republicans won't "meaningfully benefit" from their new maps.
"Quite the opposite. Democratic enthusiasm and resolve have grown more intense," Jeffries said. "Even after being aided and abetted by blatantly undemocratic court decisions, the failed GOP majority will not be able to gerrymander themselves back into power."
Richard Hudson, a North Carolina Republican who chairs House Republicans' campaign arm, told Fox News on Sunday that things are looking "fantastic" for his party.
"We have a battlefield, a map that favors Republicans," he said, adding that Republicans have better candidates and more money at the committee level. "On all the metrics that matter, we're winning."
(Reporting by Nolan D. McCaskill; Editing by Alistair Bell)
