House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy is privately encouraging voting by mail and warned President Trump the party could be “screwed” by his fight against mail-in voting.

The big picture: “We could lose based on that,” McCarthy (R-Calif.) told me at a diner in Salt Lake City last week, during a campaign swing that began in the Pacific Northwest. McCarthy said the party can’t afford for Republicans to sit home, afraid of getting COVID-19, while Democrats flood the field with mail-in ballots.

McCarthy is particularly worried about deterring senior citizens.

McCarthy said he’s spent hours telling Trump that this preoccupation will hurt the president’s own re-election, as well as Republicans running for Congress.

“I tried to show him … you know who is most afraid of COVID? Seniors. And if they’re not going to go vote, period, we’re screwed,” McCarthy told me.