“House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi predicted sweeping Democratic gains in the midterm elections at a private meeting with political allies in Washington on Tuesday, but warned that President Trump might attempt to brand the election as ‘rigged’ if the ultimate result was close,” the New York Times reports.

“Going state by state over the political map, Ms. Pelosi said she expected Democrats to capture three or four Republican-held seats in Pennsylvania, between two and four in New Jersey and up to three in Illinois…. In several smaller states, Ms. Pelosi predicted a Democratic sweep of the most competitive congressional races, including gains of two seats each in Iowa and Kansas, and one seat in New Mexico.”

“That supremely optimistic outlook on the night reflects just how high Democratic hopes have risen for a takeover in the House, and one person who attended the event expressed surprised at just how far Ms. Pelosi went in the direction of predicting a robust victory.”

“A group of hecklers angrily confronted House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi during a campaign stop for a congressional hopeful in South Florida, cursing at her and calling her a communist in a moment that was captured on video,” the Washington Post reports.

“It was yet another incident which stoked fears that the country’s bitter and emotional political environment is at risk of leading to violence.”

Amy Walter: “This election — like every midterm before it — is a referendum on the president. Democrats don’t need to remind their voters of this — their voters have been ready to rebuke Trump since early 2017. Republicans, however, are taking a different tact on dealing with a polarizing president of their own party than previous candidates did under similar circumstances. They aren’t trying to show their independence from Trump – as many Democrats unsuccessfully did with an unpopular Obama in 2010 or Republicans did with an unpopular Bush in 2006. Instead, Republicans are trying to win back their formerly committed GOP voters by stressing the loyalty their Democratic opponent shows to Pelosi.”

“Ultimately, fear of the future unknown is tougher to sell than fear of the present. Which makes the Pelosi-fear-factor ads a tough sell. I still think that Trump’s approval rating in a GOP-held district is a better gauge of whether it is vulnerable, than Pelosi’s image in that district. And, instead of weakening Pelosi, these ads may actually embolden her bid for Speaker. If Democrats win the House, Pelosi will be able to crow to her members — even those who said they’d vote against her — that she was the topic of more ads than Trump — and still won.”

“President Trump likes to mock Nancy Pelosi, but a private survey conducted for the RNC finds that she’s actually more popular—and beats the president when the midterm election is framed as a contest between the two,” Bloomberg reports.

“The internal poll… asks registered voters who they support ‘when the November election is framed by Trump and Pelosi.’ Overall, respondents prefer Pelosi-aligned candidates over Trump-aligned candidates by 5 points, 50% to 45%. Among independents only, Pelosi still prevails by a 4-point margin.”

Internal documents obtained by CNN show that Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) “remains a fundraising juggernaut for House Democrats as they battle to pick up the 23 seats they need to retake the House majority for the first time since the GOP won control of the chamber in the 2010 midterms.”

“Through June, Pelosi had raised an eye-popping $83 million for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for the 2018 election cycle, more than double the next closest Democrat, according to an internal list for the group charged with electing more Democrats to the US House of Representatives. A source briefed on the matter said that through July she had raised nearly $91 million for the party committee, which is spending big in hotly contested races including where Democratic candidates are running away from Pelosi.”

A new CNN poll finds that just 34% of registered voters say that Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi will be “an extremely or very important” factor in their vote this fall.

That ranks dead last of the 10 factors asked in the survey.