NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.—House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy boldly predicted Friday that Democrats will lose the majority in the House of Representatives this cycle with Bernie Sanders at the top of their ticket, saying the party has “surrendered to the socialists.”

In an interview with Fox News on the sidelines of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) outside Washington, McCarthy weighed in on the warnings from within the Democratic Party that a Sanders nomination could endanger their hold on the House under Nancy Pelosi. McCarthy would be in line for the speakership should the chamber flip — and he eagerly played up those internal party tensions.

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“The Democrats have surrendered to the socialists,” McCarthy told Fox News. “There is a reason why Bernie Sanders is going to become their nominee and that’s because this is no longer the Democratic Party — this is a socialist Democratic Party.”

“With AOC, [Rep. Rashida] Tlaib, [Ilan] Omar — they don’t call themselves Democrats,” he continued. “They call themselves socialist Democrats.”

McCarthy was underscoring the narrative of the conservative conference itself, where numerous President Trump allies hammered the message that his administration and campaign are fighting for America against socialism, represented by Democratic figures like Sanders.

“This is where the party has gone. ... That’s why they’re going to lose the majority,” the California Republican told Fox News.

McCarthy touted the accomplishments of the Trump administration, saying that with “four more years” of President Trump “the next century would be ours.”

When asked whether he believed Sanders, I-Vt., would be the Democratic nominee, McCarthy said he is a figure that best represents the current state of the party. “The Democrats are going to nominate who they think best represents them,” he said. “And I think, as today’s socialist Democratic Party, Bernie is their person who represents them best.”

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Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, is leading the Democratic presidential primary field in the delegate count and national polling, prompting warnings from party members and especially his nomination rivals that he could hurt the party down ballot if nominated.

“He will flip the House back to the Republicans,” former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg told MSNBC.

During Tuesday night's Democratic debate in Charleston, S.C., former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg warned that Sanders' potential nomination would damage Democrats across the board in November.

“I’ll tell you exactly what it adds up to,” Buttigieg said. “It adds up to four more years of Donald Trump, Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House and the inability to get the Senate into Democratic hands."

He added: “The time has come for us to stop acting like the presidency is the only office that matters. Not only is this a way to get Donald Trump reelected, we got a House to worry about. We got a Senate to worry about.”

Sanders, however, argues that his message of government-funded health care for all and drastically expanded benefits covering education and more resonates with much of the country. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., too, argues that such a "progressive" message is widely popular while making the case that she's the better choice to accomplish it.

In the Democratic nomination race, Sanders is winning so far -- losing the final delegate count in Iowa to Buttigieg but essentially tying the caucuses themselves, while winning in New Hampshire and Nevada. He threatens to build a daunting delegate lead over his rivals should he be able to carry that momentum into South Carolina this weekend and Super Tuesday next week.

According to the latest RealClearPolitics average for the South Carolina primary, former Vice President Joe Biden is leading with double digits at 34.3 percent of the vote — after a lackluster performance in Iowa and New Hampshire, and a distant second-place finish in Nevada. Sanders is currently polling in second place, with 22.3 percent.