national results map 2018 house screengrab NEW
CNN  — 

In the immediate aftermath of President Donald Trump’s impeachment and acquittal, Republicans felt very good about their chances of retaking the House majority that they had lost two years earlier.

“I will say that you’re going to be speaker of the House because of this impeachment hoax. I really believe it,” Trump told House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in February. “And I’m going to work hard on it. I’m going to try and get out to those Trump areas that we won by a lot. And you know, in ’18 we didn’t win.”

On paper, it made sense. There are 30 House districts currently held by Democrats that Trump carried in 2016. Win just 20 of those 30 and lose none of their own seats and Republicans are back in control! (Republicans need to net 18 seats to retake the majority.)

Except that, as Cook Political Report’s House editor David Wasserman notes:

“Right now, of the 30 Democrats in Trump-won districts, ten lack GOP challengers with more than $250,000 in the bank. And it’s going to be nearly impossible to catch up amid a global pandemic.”

That’s part of Wasserman’s broader analysis released this week that makes plain that Republican optimism about their chances of winning back the House this November was deeply off-base.

And not only that! There is now, according to Wasserman, a real chance that Democrats will pick up seats in the House this fall. He writes:

“For the first time this cycle, neither party is a clear favorite to gain House seats this fall. Anything from no net change to a small single-digit gain for either side is possible. That’s good news for Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democrats.”

The change in the political landscape is due to a variety of factors – from Joe Biden’s emergence as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee to House Democrats’ massive fundraising edge over their GOP counterparts.

But there is no question a shift has occurred, and it’s very much in Democrats’ favor.

The Point: There now exists a realistic possibility that Democrats not only win the White House but also consolidate control in the House and Senate in November. Which would be a very big deal.