Each of the special elections so far have also come with their quirks: For instance, Georgia 6 had a very high turnout and tens of millions of dollars invested by each party, whereas SC 5 had a much lower turnout and very little investment.
"We as Democrats have to come to terms with the fact that we lost again", said Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass.
Tony Cárdenas, a California Democrat, argued in a closed-door session among House Democrats that the party should address the impact Pelosi is having on its candidates, the New York Times reported.
As expected, Republicans also won a special election in the fifth congressional district of SC held to fill the seat vacated by budget director Mick Mulvaney. Kellyanne Conway, a top White House aide, jabbed at Ossoff for being 30 years old and living just outside Georgia's 6th District, tweeting her thanks to Republican Karen Handel "for standing strong, for running on issues, for being a grownup and for living in the district".
Pelosi isn't in danger of losing the leadership perch she's long held, though she did fend off her toughest challenge ever last fall from Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, who argued the party needed someone who better understood the rural, working-class voters that were critical to President Trump's victory over Hillary Clinton past year. Handel supporter John Salvesen attributed her more comfortable margin of victory over Ossoff to Republicans determined to defeat a candidate they considered representative of national Democrats - with some encouragement from Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Paul Ryan. But it's also pretty clear - and has been for some time - that in the types of districts Democrats need to win to retake the majority, she is an effective cudgel.
"It makes it a heck of a lot harder", said Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, who unsuccessfully challenged Pelosi in a leadership election last fall.
"One of the disappointing things from the last couple of days is that that approach still has a little bit of punch to it".
Democrats have said for several election cycles that the Republican-run state is on the cusp of battleground status - turning from red to purple in the common political parlance. "All the Fake News, all the money spent = 0". "And I'm not sure that that's there yet". I just feel like we're so disconnected from what real people are thinking about. Debbie Dingell of MI. "Time to stop rehashing 2016 and talk about the future". And on the legislative front, Democrats have hailed her for years as a successful and well-liked leader. They ran a banjo-strumming populist in Montana.
House health care bill unpopular in GOP districts
Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said she didn't know how she'd vote, saying, "What is the deal we have?" "That's an issue", she said . But negotiations have been plagued from the start by tensions between moderates and conservatives.
And Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the No. 2 House Democrat, remarked that "we had no business winning those districts" due to their GOP allegiance.
Ms Handel comfortably won the seat vacated by health and human services secretary Tom Price in the sixth congressional district of Georgia, beating Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff.
That the Pelosi-bashing continued to hurt Democrats - already struggling to get their bearings after Trump's win in November - left some fuming after a morning meeting Wednesday.
Pelosi says the Democratic base is energized, adding, "We must now put forth our message".
"We're going to keep fighting them, keep harassing them, and keep expanding the map", he said. "A loss is a loss is a loss and there's no excuses".
"Congress operates on fear and greed and if enough Republicans become fearful that Trump is dragging down their party and more pointedly threatening their re-election in 2018, enough Republicans could turn against him to start an impeachment inquiry", Allan Lichtman, a professor of history at American University and author of a book on Trump titled The Case for Impeachment, told Newsweek earlier this month.
One thing most everyone could agree on: Coming in second doesn't cut it now and wouldn't be an outcome to celebrate next November.
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