Michael Steele, a rising star in the party and one of its most prominent African Americans, admitted it "will get hammered" next week in Congressional races.
"We could very well be looking at a situation where we don't get it back by 2016 or even 2020," said Mr Steele. "So we could be looking at 12 years out like the Tories.
"They went through a long dark winter of reassessment and realignment, but now David Cameron has got himself in a position where he looks like he is going to be the next prime minister."