GOP campaign chief: Pelosi a horrible elections predictor

House GOP campaign chief Greg Walden on Friday scoffed at Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi’s prediction that her party would pick up at least 25 seats this November and called the San Francisco liberal a horrible campaign forecaster.

“It’s maybe a San Francisco view of the world but it isn’t realistic. On the eve of the 2010 election, she was predicting they would hold the House and, of course, they lost 63 seats,” Walden told The Hill in a phone interview from his home state of Oregon. “She has to say what she has to say to try to keep her donors thinking they have a shot; we don’t see it in the data.”

{mosads}A day earlier, the California Democrat told reporters she was “not concerned” about polls showing Republican Donald Trump closing the gap with Democrat Hillary Clinton in the race for the White House. She also predicted that either Republicans or Democrats would have a single-digit seat advantage in the House after the dust settles from the November election.

For that to happen, Democrats would need to flip at least 25 seats, given the GOP’s enormous 246 to 186 advantage. Pelosi and the House Democrats’ campaign arm have been trying to tie the bombastic and often-offensive Trump to vulnerable down-ballot Republicans.

But recent national polling has shown Republicans have the momentum.

That GOP enthusiasm has been reflected in new National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) fundraising numbers for August that Walden shared exclusively with The Hill.

The NRCC raised $6.7 million last month and ended with $65.4 million cash on hand, Walden said. That represented the NRCC’s second best August fundraising figures since 2003 and its best August cash-on-hand figure in history.

The $65.4 million was $15.6 million more than the previous best August cash-on-hand figure, from 2012, suggesting Republicans are in good financial shape in the final stretch of the campaign. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has not released its figures from last month.

“It wouldn’t surprising if [Democrats] outraised us in August,” said Walden, noting that the DCCC beat its GOP counterpart by $7.5 million in July. “But we’ve seen a significant and solid uptick not only from our overall donors but also from our conference and we’ll see more in our next report.”

Before GOP vice presidential nominee Mike Pence addressed House Republicans in Washington on Tuesday, members wrote checks for $3.1 million at their fundraising meeting, Walden said.

“What we’re seeing is our members feeling good about where they’re at in the cycle and are now starting to feel comfortable writing their own check,” Walden said. “That really shows.”