Pelosi pins the blame for 2022 House seat struggles in New York on Hochul

    FILE - Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., speaks during an event in Washington, June 23, 2023. Democrats at the highest levels are making a critical push for President Joe Biden to reconsider his election bid. Speaker Emerita Pelosi privately warned Biden that Democrats could lose the ability to seize control in the House if he didn’t step away from the race and that polls showed he likely can’t defeat Donald Trump. And former President Barack Obama has privately expressed concerns to Democrats about Biden’s candidacy. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

    At a Politico event in Chicago Thursday, former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said the losses they saw in New York were related to the “gubernatorial race.”

    In 2022, New York Republicans flipped five congressional seats. Some blamed redrawn maps for this – Democrats who had a supermajority in the state submitted their own maps for that election, but those were rejected and a special master drew separate ones, which created competitive districts. Also that year, Hochul won the election for governor with 53.2% of the vote. That race was closer than any other gubernatorial competitions in the last two decades.

    “Well, I think it’s related to the gubernatorial race,” Pelosi said Thursday, referencing the poor showing in 2022.

    “Have you spoke to Hochul?” reporter Jonathan Martin asked the Democratic heavy weight.

    “No. I’ve spoken to the future Speaker Hakeem Jeffries … we’re optimistic about our races,” she said.