House GOP Leader: Election results are a 'mandate against socialism' and 'defund the police'

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Thursday that Democrats do not have a mandate as a result of the Nov. 3 elections.

"I heard the speaker call it a mandate. It was a mandate against socialism. It was a mandate against defunding the police. It was a mandate against wasting a majority that the Democrats have done for the last Congress," he said during news conference, referring in part to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

"While the Democrats praise socialism and abdicated to defund police, our members made a commitment to America, that they would restore the way of life, restore the economy and renew the American dream. We are eager and ready to show up for work unlike the Democrats," he also said, referring to the proxy voting system House Democrats put in place during the pandemic.

Pelosi argued on Thursday that Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, has "a mandate to address the challenges our country faces as well as to have a positive initiative on how to grow the economy in a fair way and in order to do that we must address the pandemic."

McCarthy noted that many pollsters were wrong about House races.

"It will be the most diverse [Republican] class we've ever had," the California Republican said. "Many have dubbed this year the year of the Republican woman, and it couldn't be truer from that statement. We are posed to have 29 House Republican women join our ranks, surpassing the previous record."

"Every Democrat incumbent who lost either lost to a woman, minority or veteran Republican. Meanwhile, Democrats are set to have the slimmest Democrat majority since World War II. Pundits doubted us, polls were stacked against us and I don't believe one person in this room believed we'd win one race. The Cooke [Political] Report said we'd lose 15-20," he added.

Some races, such as Republican Burgess Owens against Democratic Rep. Ben McAdams in Utah's 4th district, are too close to call but so far House Republicans have gained seats as a result of the election.

"They were all wrong. Not one Republican incumbent lost. Republicans won from Miami to New York to Minnesota, to California. The only seat the Democrats won was an open seat and then they claimed to have won a redistricting in North Carolina where Republicans didn't even run," he said.

McCarthy was asked if he thinks the Trump campaign's lawsuits are jeopardizing democracy.

“Not at all. You have a hand recount going in Georgia. Every recount needs to be finished. You have challenges inside courts. Every challenge needs to be heard. Regardless of who you support in this election, at the end of the day, we want America to be united. Regardless of how this outcome is, you want to be able to trust the election," he said.

"If there was something that was wrong in this election, we do not want to repeat it for the future either. Just as we watched in the race in 2000, it carried out more than 37 days because there were court cases. They were heard. I think when you have more than 150 million Americans voting, let's make sure we get this right," he also said.