Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX) said Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) that House Democrats are “terrified” of Democrat presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) becoming the party’s nominee.

“The moderate Democrats in the House of Representatives are terrified of the prospect of that because they know that that is a bridge too far for most Americans,” he said.

He also said he was surprised over the past year that people who were openly socialist would get elected to serve in the United States House of Representatives.

“I was surprised this past year — I never thought I would serve in the United States Congress where people were elected as openly Socialist. Just that quickly, we are now really at the precipice of the possibility that the nominee for the Democratic Party is an avowed socialist,” he said.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), a former Sanders campaign organizer, ran on a “democratic socialist” platform, and she and her “Squad” of progressive females were supported by pro-Sanders progressive groups such as Democratic Socialists of America and the Justice Democrats

Ratcliffe also said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has become a “hostage” to the progressive wing of the party and was forced to impeach Trump.

“Nancy Pelosi has become hostage to that progressive mob within the party. It’s why she went from ‘Oh no, impeachment’s got to be overwhelming and it’s got to be bipartisan’ to doing exactly the opposite,” he said.

But Ratcliffe said the rise of socialism within the Democrat Party is a great opportunity for Republicans.

“It’s a great opportunity for us. It’s an opportunity not just for President Trump to be reelected against that backdrop, but for us to gain control of the House again and really get great things done for the next four years,” he said.

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