Nancy Pelosi says she thinks people will be 'surprised' by midterm results, Democrats could hold Congress

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Nancy Pelosi says she sees a world in which Democrats keep the House

On PBS, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi defended President Biden and congressional Democrats; she also explained that Democrats will respect the outcome of the election.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday she thinks people will be "surprised" by the results of the midterms. 

The speaker struck an optimistic tone for Democrats who are widely believed to be facing headwinds in congressional contests across the country.

"We own the ground out there today," Pelosi told the PBS NewsHour Tuesday before election results started rolling in. "And just because a pundit in Washington says history says you can't win is no deterrent for the enthusiasm we have out there. So I think you'll be surprised this evening." 

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US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi speaks during a press conference with Croatian Parliament Speaker, in Zagreb, on Oct. 24, 2022. (Damir Sencar/ AFP via Getty Images)

She said the Democrats would accept the results of the elections and take any outcome "in stride."

"It's a day where the sanctity of the vote is revered, where people vote, and we have to respect the results of that," she said. "But again, whatever the outcome, we will respect that." 

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, got an early call on his re-election bid against Democrat Val Demings in Florida Tuesday night.  (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Republicans are expected to take the House and are slightly favored with several close Senate contests. 

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Host Judy Woodruff said some Democratic analysts have said Democratic candidates aren’t focused enough on "kitchen table issues" such as inflation and crime in favor of issues such as abortion and democracy. 

"With all due respect to whoever those analysts are, our candidates know their districts, and they are connecting to their districts," Pelosi said. "So the message that might be useful for somebody in Washington, D.C., is maybe not the message that works. Our candidates are contrasting themselves in a positive way about what they believe in, lower cost, bigger paychecks, safer communities and a record that the Democrats have in that regard that our great president has taken the lead on."

Pelosi also gave an update on her husband Paul Pelosi, who was attacked by a home intruder with a hammer asking "Where’s Nancy?" late last month.

"We take it one day at a time," Pelosi said of her husband, who suffered a skull fracture in the attack and was released from the hospital.

She said he has been "deluged by prayers" from people across the country wishing him well but lamented that he had to pay the price for an attack intended for her. 

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But she said she thinks the partisan divide in the country can be healed. "This is the greatest place that ever existed in the world," she said. "And the American people have great confidence in the American people."