WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Representative Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who is running for the Senate, warned donors in a private meeting on Saturday that his party was likely to suffer major losses if President Joe Biden remained at the top of the ticket, the New York Times reported on Tuesday, citing two unnamed sources.

"I think if he is our nominee, I think we lose," the Times reported, citing a person with access to a transcription of a recording of the event, a fundraiser in New York.

"And we may very, very well lose the Senate and lose our chance to take back the House," the Times reported him as saying.

Biden could be enough of a drag on other Democratic candidates that the party would most likely lose control of the Senate and miss an opportunity to win control of the House, Schiff said, according to the newspaper.

(Reporting by Rami Ayyub)