Losses in two recent special elections combined with prospects for a tough contest next week sent House Republicans scrambling for change — both in words and deeds.

Minority Leader John A. Boehner told his caucus behind closed doors Tuesday that Americans won’t vote for Republicans until they fix their “brand” and convince voters they will fix Washington, according to members who were present.

An open question is whether that effort might also include changes at the National Republican Congressional Committee, which is led by Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma.

Boehner has been unhappy with candidate recruitment and fundraising and angry about the embezzlement of funds by an insider.

Earlier this year, the NRCC discovered unauthorized wire transfers and belatedly learned that audits had not been conducted on its accounts for several years.

The committee ended 2006 with about $990,000 less than its balance sheet showed and ended 2007 with $740,000 less. The FBI is investigating.

Meanwhile, incumbent members have resisted paying their dues to the committee, and many retiring members have been slow to offer to transfer their excess cash — both signs of a lack of faith that victory can be had in November.

The trail of special-election defeats has fed discontent with the NRCC, the bluntest of which came from Newt Gingrich (1979-99), the former Speaker who helped win a Republican majority in 1994 for the first time in 40 years.

Writing in the magazine Human Events, Gingrich called for a “complete overhaul” of the NRCC and said GOP lawmakers needed a new message by Memorial Day.

“It’s time to face a stark choice,” Gingrich wrote. “Without change, we could face a catastrophic election this fall.”

NRCC Chairman Cole said he spoke Monday with Gingrich and agreed with the need for good candidates, an able NRCC and a national agenda.

“I think you’re always going to get criticized when you lose,” Cole said. “He’s very helpful. That’s why we agree on the big picture.”

For his part, Boehner’s focus seems to be on perfecting a message that both weak and strong Republican candidates can run on.

He told reporters that a campaign message for the caucus would be developed in the next few weeks.

“I think it’s clear this election is about change,” Boehner said. “If we’re going to do well in this election, if we’re going to win back our majority, we have to prove to people that we are in fact the agents of change.”

“I’ve been saying it for a year and a half,” Boehner told his colleagues, according to the Ohio Republican’s written talking points and those inside the room. “Some of you have been listening. Others I’m not so sure about.”

Boehner cited the need to stick with presumed presidential nominee Arizona Sen. John McCain and aggressively criticize Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Rep. Don Cazayoux, D-La., was sworn in Tuesday to represent a Baton Rouge-centered seat that had been in Republican hands since 1974, until the departure of Rep. Richard H. Baker (1987-2008). President Bush won the district in 2004 with 59 percent of the vote.

On March 8, Democratic Rep. Bill Foster captured the suburban and rural Illinois seat of former Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, which had been in Republican hands for 76 years except for a single term. Bush won the district with 55 percent.

Mississippi voters will decide May 13 whether to give Democrat Travis W. Childers an upset over Republican Greg Davis for the seat that Republican Sen. Roger Wicker had held for seven terms. Bush won that district with 62 percent.

“We’re going to have another tough election a week from now,” Boehner said.

The special elections won by Democrats were peculiarly local contests, Cole said. And although recruitment of strong candidates is one of the NRCC’s missions, interference in primaries would have violated party rules and annoyed local delegations, he said.

“You can’t choose candidates from Washington, D.C.,” Cole said.

In the 6th District of Louisiana, the GOP fielded Woody Jenkins, who was narrowly defeated by Cazayoux. The Federal Election Commission had fined Jenkins in an earlier campaign for concealing a phone bank linked to a former Ku Klux Klan leader.

Cazayoux’s narrow victory led a fellow Louisianan, Republican Rep. Jim McCrery, to feel optimistic about the general election.

“Had we had a better candidate, we could have won that seat,” McCrery said. “At the margins, has the Republican brand hurt us? Yes, I think right now that is the case. But this is not November. We have a long way to go.”

In Illinois, strong McCain coattails and high turnout would help the GOP make sure that Foster is a less-than-one-term wonder, said Republican Rep. Mark Steven Kirk.

Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana said voters in Muncie and Anderson and at a town-hall meeting in Fort Wayne on Saturday expressed disappointment with Republicans and suggested the GOP deserved its comeuppance in 2006 for veering from limited government.

Republicans now need to get the word out that they are returning to conservatism with fights against expanding a children’s health initiative and supporting conservative budgets, Pence said.

“I’ve run for Congress with the wind at my back. I’ve run for Congress with the wind in my face,” Pence said. “Our candidates are running with the wind in our face right now.”