washington <u+2014> congressional republicans have come to grudgingly accept an unfolding reality: things are not looking good. donald j. trump is lagging in polls and pulling down the party<u+2019>s congressional candidates , analysts are already ceding the senate to the democrats and a conservative challenge to speaker paul d. ryan is brewing in the house. <u+201c>the math kind of just works for them,<u+201d> said representative tom cole, republican of oklahoma, though he was not yet willing to concede big gains by democrats. if the most likely scenario holds <u+2014> a hillary clinton victory, a narrow democratic majority in the senate and a diminished republican house majority <u+2014> republicans will have to make crucial and onerous decisions they are now beginning to confront. do they try to find a way to cooperate with democrats and get something done after years of stasis in washington, perhaps as a way to move beyond the trump phenomenon? or do they dig in against democrats and the new president as a bet on a republican comeback in the 2018 midterm elections, adopting a noncooperative strategy to recapture the senate majority and pad their numbers in the house? can mr. ryan survive as speaker? does mr. ryan even want to survive as speaker of a house where any negotiating room is likely to be severely constricted by pressure from his right? what about merrick b. garland or an alternative choice for the supreme court? will republicans finally make way for the court-shifting nominee of a democratic president, or will democrats resort to ending the filibuster to fill a court opening? even if they sustain the predicted losses, republicans say they will retain leverage through their control of the house and the proven power of the minority in the senate, especially under their leader, mitch mcconnell of kentucky. so those anticipating that the election will somehow lead to a washington reset should brace for disappointment. <u+201c>we are likely in another period of divided government, and i don<u+2019>t know that our task will be any easier now than it has been,<u+201d> said representative charlie dent, a pragmatic republican from pennsylvania. <u+201c>i expect it will be more challenging.<u+201d> republicans face competing dynamics. many of them have a desire to get congress functioning in the more traditional manner to start addressing the pent-up demand for public works, major tax law changes, immigration policy, even improvements in the health care law and revisions to entitlement programs. but they fear that mrs. clinton has been pulled left by the election and will be held there by newly empowered progressive forces such as senators bernie sanders of vermont and elizabeth warren of massachusetts, making it difficult, if not impossible, to achieve any legislative compromises acceptable to republicans. and they note that mrs. clinton, should she win the white house, will start out with nothing resembling the personal popularity that president obama had at the beginning of his first term. republicans were willing to buck him then, so challenging mrs. clinton now does not seem like a stretch. at the same time, the election has provided republicans with a painful, up-close look at dissatisfaction among their voters, who might revolt if the party even considers giving ground to democrats. already, there are cries for senate republicans to indefinitely stonewall any supreme court nominee to prevent the court from becoming more liberal. with the house majority expected to shrink, perhaps considerably, and become more conservative, republicans fear they will struggle to assemble bipartisan majorities to do the fundamental tasks of governing such as increasing the debt limit <u+2014> a looming early test <u+2014> and funding the government, let alone to strike big-picture policy compromises. any move by mr. ryan and his allies to rely too heavily on democrats to pass legislation will immediately provoke a backlash from the hard-right element of his caucus and potentially put his job at risk. those conservatives are already agitating for a delay in party leadership elections next month in an apparent effort to win time to gauge mr. ryan<u+2019>s postelection mind-set. and many house conservatives remain more inclined to investigate mrs. clinton than to meet her at the negotiating table. top republicans say there is a reasonable political argument to be made for digging in and awaiting 2018, when republicans will have a distinct advantage in senate races in a midterm environment more favorable to them. senator chuck schumer of new york, the democratic leader in waiting, hopes that is not the case. <u+201c>i think there is a moral imperative to get government working again,<u+201d> he said in an interview. <u+201c>people are angry and sour in part because the government is paralyzed. if we are gridlocked again for the next four years, the election of 2020 will make the election of 2016 look tame.<u+201d> mr. schumer sees himself as someone who can work with republicans, building on existing relationships such as his rapport with mr. ryan. <u+201c>i think he is the kind of guy who wants to get things done,<u+201d> mr. schumer said. mrs. clinton is also viewed as someone capable of breaking the ice with congressional republican leaders based on her tenure in the senate, her white house experience and her time as secretary of state. even some in the obama white house expect that she would be more successful than mr. obama was at wooing capitol hill. absent an electoral landslide that hands democrats control of the house as well, considerable wooing may well be necessary if democrats win the white house and senate and hope to bring a new spirit to a gridlocked congress. follow the new york times<u+2019>s politics and washington coverage on facebook and twitter , and sign up for the first draft politics newsletter . a version of this article appears in print on october 27, 2016, on page a16 of the new york edition with the headline: for g.o.p., hard part may be after election. order reprints | today's paper | subscribe
republicans in congress fear losses, and then the hard part
carl hulse