USA TODAY International Edition
Moderate Democrats see their ranks in the House dwindling
Recent retirements, redistricting, Tea Party movement hammer Blue Dog Coalition.
“It’s a totally different ballgame. We were keeping people out and now we’re looking around going, ‘ Who would make a good Blue Dog’ or ‘ Can we find people to run in these Blue Dog districts.’ ”
– Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D- Calif.
WASHINGTON — Voters say they want lawmakers to find common ground and compromise to solve the nation’s fiscal problems, but the number of moderate lawmakers who aim to do just that is dwindling in the U. S. House.
No place is this more apparent than the Blue Dog Coalition, a faction of centrist, fiscally conservative House Democrats whose ranks have been decimated by the 2010 Tea Party wave, a crop of recent retirements and the decennial process of redrawing congressional districts that has resulted in fewer races where moderate Democrats can compete.
Rep. Heath Shuler, D- N. C., was the latest loss to the Blue Dog Coalition when he announced Thursday that he would not seek re- election. Shuler’s western North Carolina district was redrawn by Republicans in the state Legislature to make it more difficult for Shuler to win by putting his more Democratic- leaning areas in another district. In January, another Blue Dog, former representative Gabrielle Giffords, D- Ariz., resigned from the House to focus on her recovery from a January 2011 shooting attack.
Before the 2010 GOP election landslide, Blue Dogs had 54 Democratic lawmakers in their ranks, but only 26 survived the election to return. After a couple of retirements, there are currently 24 lawmakers in the group, but they are facing another potentially bruising election year.
Fewer moderate Democrats in the House has resulted in a more liberal Democratic caucus overall, a factor that has fueled polarization in Congress as centrists in both parties continue to decline. Republicans had already experienced a rapid decline in GOP moderates in the 2006 and 2008 elections, and two- thirds of House Republicans now identify as members of the Republican Study Committee, the conservative faction. There is no longer a moderate GOP group comparable to the Blue Dog Coalition.
Among the two dozen Blue Dog Democrats currently in office, one is running for the Senate, four are not seeking re- election, and five lawmakers, Reps. Leonard Boswell of Iowa, Mike Mcintyre of North Carolina, Jim Matheson of Utah, Jason Altmire of Pennsylvania and John Barrow of Georgia, are all facing tough reelection fights because their districts were redrawn. All states have not finalized their redistricting maps, so more Blue Dogs could find themselves in incompatible districts.
Rep. Mike Thompson, D- Calif., a Blue Dog, said he is optimistic that a new crop of fiscally conservative Democratic candidates will win in November. The group has endorsed six House candidates, and they are expected to announce more endorsements as the election season intensifies.
“I think we pick up some seats, and we’ll elect some moderate Democrats in this next cycle,” he said.
Thompson acknowledged that moderate Democrats’ ranks have taken a hit, but he contended that their influence has not waned inside the U. S. Capitol.
“I think you’ve seen a great level of influence from the Blue Dogs at our high number and at our low number. It’s a lot tougher to see it in the minority, but in the majority the Blue Dogs were a mitigating factor that made a lot of bills not only more moderate, but passable,” he said.
Blue Dog Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D- Calif., said that at its peak, the group capped admission to keep it focused and serious- minded on fiscal policy. Now, Blue Dogs are seeking applicants.
“It’s a totally different ballgame,” Sanchez said. “We were keeping people out and now we’re looking around going, ‘ Who would make a good Blue Dog?’ or ‘ Can we find people to run in these Blue Dog districts?’ ”