House Dems' anxious hell

House Democrats are girding themselves for an agonizing, "nail-biter" Election Day.

Why it matters: Anxiety is lurking behind every door of every race. It will compound if Republicans run the table and win total control of the White House and Congress.

• That's why Dems see winning back the House – and denying Donald Trump the trifecta – as a moral imperative.
• "People are pretty anxious," Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), a member of Hakeem Jeffries' leadership team, told us. "This is an election where the consequences, we think, are as serious as they have ever been."
• "Concerned but not rattled" is how one swing-district Democrat described their outlook to us.

🌡 Zoom in: Democrats in battleground districts feel "much better than the top of the ticket," one House Democrat told us.

• "Everyone feels like they are outperforming" Vice President Kamala Harris, they added.
• Democrats feel they have a strong crop of candidates, many of whom were star recruits in 2022 who are running in rematches against GOP freshmen.
• They point to strong fundraising as a sign of grassroots enthusiasm, though a House Dem previously told us donors are giving big to congressional campaigns in part "because of worries that [Harris is] not going to win."

🥊 Between the lines: Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) told us Harris is running an "infinitely better" campaign than President Biden.

• "I know that doesn't sync up with what folks on Twitter [say], but I think those of us who are actually on the ballot are way, way, way more optimistic and energized," he added.

Zoom out: "We have easily a dozen races that are virtual ties," New Democrat Coalition Chair Annie Kuster (D-N.H.) told reporters earlier this week.

• "I don't think you can count on the polling even being accurate at that point. Well, well within the margin of error," she said.
• "Everyone agrees it's going to be a nail-biter. Nobody ... thinks it's going to be a runaway either way," the House Dem who spoke anonymously told us.

The bottom line: Kuster summed up her mood as "nauseously optimistic."

— Andrew Solender