Democratic disaster casts shadow on Nancy Pelosi

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, and Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, on election day last week. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, and Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, on election day last week. Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta / Manuel Balce Ceneta / Associated Press Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta / Manuel Balce Ceneta / Associated Press Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Democratic disaster casts shadow on Nancy Pelosi 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

WASHINGTON — All but overlooked in the Republican Senate landslide is the double-digit loss of seats for Democrats in the House. The outcome casts a cloud on House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s future, potentially throwing the House out of reach for Democrats in 2016 and dashing Pelosi's dream of serving as House speaker with a President Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Democrats lost at least 14 seats Tuesday, including the one held by first-term Rep. Ami Bera of Elk Grove (Sacramento County), who fell to Republican former Rep. Doug Ose in a race that attracted big spending by outside groups on both sides.

Because gerrymandering has reduced the number of competitive House districts to roughly 50, or barely 10 percent of the 435 seats, the climb back for Democrats is going to be monumentally steep. Republicans now hold their biggest majority since Harry Truman was president in 1946, and if the numbers climb as final results come in, the party could break records going back to the 1930s. So big was the GOP wave that Michael Grimm, an indicted Republican congressman from Staten Island, was re-elected.

All this comes on top of the Democratic landslide loss of 63 House seats in 2010 that toppled San Francisco's Pelosi, now 73, from the speakership. Pelosi defied tradition by staying on as minority leader despite the humiliating losses, determined, she said, to see the Affordable Care Act implemented, a legislative victory attributable to her as much as President Obama.

A grim Pelosi issued this statement Tuesday night: “In a difficult night for Democrats, our members and candidates won hard-fought campaigns supported by and connected to their constituents, and strengthened by the tenacious leadership of (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee) Chairman Steve Israel. House Democrats will continue to fight for middle- class families who are the backbone of our democracy. There is important work to do to jump-start the middle class, and we hope we can do it with bipartisanship and fairness.”

Pelosi tried to make the election about jobs and popular workplace fairness issues that she believed worked for Democrats, including minimum wage increases and taking steps to counter income inequality. But Republicans were able to nationalize the election into a referendum on Obama.

Pelosi had the support of her caucus going into Tuesday. As Democrats survey the wreckage, we'll see if that changes.

Carolyn Lochhead is the San Francisco Chronicle’s Washington correspondent. E-mail: clochhead@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @carolynlochhead