Republicans Are Pumping Cash Into Solidly Blue Districts

Republicans Are Pumping Cash Into Solidly Blue Districts

Arjun Singh on October 17, 2022

House Republicans have been spending significant amounts of money in heavily Democratic House districts, a sign that Republicans are confident of picking up remote seats in a wave election year.

The Congressional Leadership Fund has either spent or committed to spending $23 million in Democrat-represented districts that President Joe Biden won by over 10% in the 2020 election, according to Axios. This is in addition to cash from the National Republican Congressional Committee, which has spent $2.2 million in five such districts.

These districts – Arizona’s 4th, California’s 13th, 26th, 47th and 49th, Connecticut’s 5th, New York’s 4th and 17th, Oregon’s 4th and 6th, Rhode Island’s 2nd, Georgia’s 2nd and New Mexico’s 3rd – each have a Cook Partisan Voting Index (CPVI) Scores ranging between D+2 and D+4 and cover mostly suburban or rural counties – such as Orange County in California, Westchester County in New York and Macon County in Georgia. Most of the money is due to be spent on attack ads against Democratic incumbents, Axios reported.

This is a LIE.

Biden & one-party Dem rule is responsible for America’s inflation crisis. They have NO plan to fix it.

When Biden took office inflation was at 1.4% today it is at 8.2%.

It has skyrocketed because of their out-of-control spending to fuel their radical agenda. https://t.co/LLzoMlWvDo

— House Republicans (@HouseGOP) October 16, 2022

The news of GOP spending in these House districts comes as polling has shown Republicans making surprising gains in heavily Democratic areas, in both House and statewide races. In Rhode Island’s 2nd district, for instance, Republican candidate and former Mayor Allan Fung is leading Democratic state Treasurer Seth Magaziner by eight points, according to a recent Suffolk University survey.

In Oregon, meanwhile, Republican gubernatorial candidate Christine Drazan is polling ahead of both the Democratic candidate Tina Kotek and Democrat-turned-independent candidate Betsey Johnson – creating an opportunity for the GOP to win the state’s governorship for the first time in 40 years. President Joe Biden visited Oregon to campaign for Kotek and House candidates there, an unusual stop in a state with a CPVI score of D+6 that he won in 2020 by over 16 points.

Perhaps the most prominent target of such Republican spending, however, is Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York’s 17th District, who is the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Recent polling shows Maloney losing by 4% and his defeat would be a key win for Republicans, taking down a member of the House leadership; Republicans spent upwards of $2 million on the seat alone.

Republicans have been leading generic polling for the House of Representatives across all major polls. FiveThirtyEight’s election prediction model gives House Republicans a 72% chance of winning the House after 40,000 simulations.

The Congressional Leadership Fund, National Republican Congressional Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee did not immediately respond to a request for comment.