Kevin McCarthy says Tuesday's election was 'night of Republican women'

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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Wednesday that GOP's Election Day victories in the U.S. House of Representatives were largely due to the successes of women candidates.  

Democrats remain poised to maintain their majority in the chamber, but Republican challengers gained more ground than they anticipated — picking up seven seats. There are still a number of races to be called.

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In an early morning interview with Politico, McCarthy said the Republican Party had "defied the odds" with its performance. 

"It’s the night of the Republican women ...The Democrats never solved one problem in their majority," he said. "They promised they would govern differently [in the House], and they didn’t.”

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Politico also reported that the California GOP leader had told fellow party members he would run for minority leader once more. 

Speaking to reporters in a news briefing at Washington's Capitol Visitor Center, McCarthy boasted of what he said was President Trump's historic success "even in the face of unprecedented challenges," and said the future of the party had been changed for the better. 

He said that Democrats including Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Cheri Bustos and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had been proven gravely wrong in their initial projections. 

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One lawmaker even told Politico later Wednesday that it had turned out to be a "dumpster fire" — an image shared many times over the course of 2020. 

"I think the rejection that we saw last night for the Democrats is that America does not want to be a socialist nation," McCarthy hypothesized, echoing one of his tweets.

Women, he reiterated, played a large role in that "rejection." 

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"We'll likely have an additional 14-19 Republican women," McCarthy said. "This will break the record for the most Republican women coming in at any one time — will double and will set a record for the most women ever in the Republican Party."

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The leader also said the party would likely pick up six to nine minority candidates and that there are 11 outstanding races he feels very confident about.