James Carville has spent 40 years telling Democrats how to win. This week he told them what kind of winning he can’t stand.
It isn’t losing. It’s winning small.
“I would rather the Republicans keep the House by five than the Democrats win by five,” Carville told Bill Kristol on The Bulwark’s “Bulwark on Sunday” podcast, posted Oct. 18. “Because if that happens, they’re hostage to the DSA.”
That’s the Democratic Socialists of America. And that’s a party strategist, two weeks before the Nov. 3 midterms, saying out loud that his own side’s left flank scares him more than the other side’s majority.
He wasn’t being cute. He was doing math.
“I would be disappointed if it comes in at 225 House seats,” he said. At that number, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries would hold the gavel and not much else. “Hakeem cannot move. There’s no place for him to go.”
Picture it. A speaker who needs every vote, and a handful of members who know it. Every bill becomes a negotiation. Every negotiation runs through the people furthest from the center.
Carville sees the same trouble across the Capitol. “Even if you have a close Senate, Fetterman would keep Schumer Pepto-Bismol all night,” he said of Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, who has made a habit of not going where his party points.
“So I think this is one of these races where margin matters a lot,” Carville said.
Kristol didn’t argue. “Yeah, that’s a good point,” he said, adding that he sees 225 as “the lower bound for the House.”
🤔 @JamesCarville: “I’d rather Republicans keep the house by 5 than Dems win by 5… Because then they’re hostage to DSA, and Hakeem can’t move.”
😬@BillKristol: “Good point.”
So afraid of DSA folks who want M4ALL, etc. they’d rather Republicans hold power. Unreal. True colors. pic.twitter.com/X386OZZYy4
— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) October 19, 2026
So the pitch from two of the most familiar faces in the anti-Trump commentariat is this: go big, or the win won’t be worth having.
The names on the ballot explain the worry. DSA’s national organization has endorsed five House candidates this cycle: Angela Gonzales-Torres in California’s 34th District, Melat Kiros in Colorado’s 1st, Rashida Tlaib in Michigan’s 12th, Donavan McKinney in Michigan’s 13th and Chris Rabb in Pennsylvania’s 3rd.
Five doesn’t sound like many. In a five-seat majority, it’s everything.
None of this is new for Carville. In June, he urged Democrats to “stand up” to socialist candidates.
In August, he told DSA candidates to stop using the party’s “Goddamn name.”
