GOP, playing defense, abandons vulnerable candidates
DALLAS — Vice President Mike Pence laid out a hopeful vision for the midterm elections this past week as he campaigned for Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas, telling Republican donors that candidates like Sessions could stop Democrats from winning the House in November.
“The road, they know, to their majority comes right through Pete’s district,” Pence said. Referring to this city’s vote-rich suburbs of undecided moderates, he added, “Make sure the red wave starts here.”
Pence was deploying a favorite image of both Republicans and Democrats this fall: An electoral tidal wave of voters carrying their party to power in Congress. But the point of his trip was not to stir a wave. It was to build a wall.
As they brace for losses in the House of Representatives, Republican Party leaders are racing to reinforce their candidates in about two dozen districts, trying to create a barricade around their imperiled majority. They are pouring money and effort mainly into moderate suburban areas, like Sessions’ seat, that they see as critical to holding the chamber by even a oneseat margin. And they have begun to pull millions of dollars away from Republican candidates who have fallen substantially behind in once-competitive races.
Republicans steering the House effort, who insisted on anonymity to discuss party strategy, believe that by intensifying their efforts in a smaller number of districts, they can limit Democratic gains to perhaps 20 seats on Nov. 6 — just short of the 23 seats Democrats need to take over the House. Party leaders are counting on a surge of energy from conservative voters to repel Democrats in many of the redder districts on the House map, so they can concentrate their advertising on teetering purple seats.
Republicans in Congress and the White House see a Democratic takeover in the House as a mortal threat, potentially allowing the opposition party to bring the Republican agenda to a halt and launch far-reaching investigations that could put the Trump administration under siege.
There are between 60 and 70 Republican-held districts that are being seriously contested, and Democrats, boosted by strong fundraising, have been expanding their television advertising in conservative-leaning districts in an effort to stretch Republicans thin. National polls have shown most voters favor a Democratic-led House over a Republican one, though the Democrats’ lead has varied.
In a tactical retreat, Republican groups have already withdrawn some or all funding from a few embattled incumbents, mainly in suburbs where President Donald Trump is unpopular, including Reps. Kevin Yoder of Kansas, Mike Coffman of Colorado and Mike Bishop of Michigan. They have abandoned more than half a dozen seats where Republican lawmakers are not running for re-election. On Wednesday they cut loose the Tucson, Ariz.-based seat of Rep. Martha Mcsally, who left to run for Senate.
Party strategists said several other incumbents must recover quickly or risk losing funding, including Reps. Peter