Van Hollen Remains Optimistic, Touts Democratic Turnout

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) took a minute out of his Election Tuesday night to brief reporters at the Democratic National Committee Headquarters on the Democrats’ status after a number of projected winners show GOP gains. 

Van Hollen expressed extreme optimism by touting reports of a higher-than-projected Democratic turnout and reminded reporters that losses were expected.

“We’re seeing stronger than projected Democratic turnout so far,” Van Hollen said. “We knew it would be challenging and we knew that people understood how high the stake were going in to this election.” 

Van Hollen seemed confident that Democrats would remain in control of the House and said many of the seats already projected to have flipped were expected losses. After being rattled by reporters insinuating the House was already lost, the Maryland Democrat simply said, “That’s a mistake, it’s way too early for that.”