Virus, economy, Trump and cash hamper GOP’s bid for the House
WASHINGTON — Republicans are brandishing the latest weapon in their uphill fight for House control this November: votes by moderate Democrats to pass a $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill promising benefits for immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally.
They’re also celebrating their recent capture of a Democratic-held House seat north of Los Angeles. They say it shows they can win suburban districts whose centrist voters fled the GOP two years ago, costing it the chamber’s majority.
Moderate districts ringing American cities are still the key House battleground. Yet five months from Election Day, Republican prospects for winning control seem slim.
GOP candidates are burdened by President Donald Trump’s lingering unpopularity with suburban voters, his slow and erratic handling of the pandemic and an economy with only the faintest heartbeat. They face a potentially crippling fundraising disadvantage against pivotal Democratic incumbents.
Coping with those disadvantages is all the more difficult for GOP congressional candidates in the era of Trump, who overshadows messaging by down-ballot contenders.
“For many voters, the 2020
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington.
election will be a referendum on the president. That’s the bad news,” said former Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa.
GOP operatives see an opening with the massive coronavirus bill crafted by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. It passed the House with support by just one Republican.
Citing its direct payments for immigrant workers in the U.S. illegally and other “asinine provisions,” the House Republican campaign arm all but promised attack ads.
The House bill is dead in the GOP-led Senate and opposed by Trump. Underscoring the discomfort it produced, 10 of the 30 Democrats
from districts Trump carried in the 2016 election voted against the legislation.
“For the Trump 30, anything Trump-related is in the danger zone,” said Scott Reed, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s senior political strategist.
Yet Pelosi stuffed the bill with priorities Democrats could embrace, including nearly $1 trillion to help financially struggling local governments.
“My ‘yes’ vote shows I’m trying to get $612 million back to my district,” said freshman Rep. Andy Kim, D-N.J., citing the share he said his communities would receive. Kim represents a central New Jersey district Trump won in 2016.