“After more than 15 years in office, Congressman McCaul has made clear that he is no longer interested in serving Texans in Congress. While he has occupied his time in Washington attacking Texans’ ability to afford their health care, Congressman McCaul has found time to increase his wealth by more than 900 percent and maintain his lavish lifestyle on the taxpayer and campaign donor dime. Congressman McCaul nearly lost this seat in 2018 after voting to strip health care away from people with pre-existing conditions and a strong Democratic nominee will finish the job in 2020.” – DCCC Chairwoman Cheri Bustos
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To: Interested Parties
From: Avery Jaffe, DCCC Regional Press Secretary
Date: March 3, 2020
Subject: The Case Against Congressman Mike McCaul
Congressman Mike McCaul is everywhere but Texas’ 10th Congressional District.
No stranger to Fox News green rooms, luxury limousines and taxpayer-funded overseas trips, McCaul’s famously disengaged approach to his district has rendered him unknown in TX-10 and his constituents not-so-hot on whether to re-elect him. And it’s not just Congressman McCaul’s voters who are lukewarm on whether he should keep his job; McCaul himself appears ambivalent at best on whether he wants his job in Congress in the first place.
But after being passed over for every Trump administration job he auditioned for, McCaul has resorted to repeatedly inflating his fundraising numbers to mask his half-hearted campaigning. (And don’t ask about McCaul’s staggering 245 percent burn rate despite having zero primary opponents!)
While the Democrats running to replace Congressman McCaul are focused on improving the lives of everyday Texans, McCaul has only looked out for himself since entering Congress in 2005. McCaul has increased his wealth by more than 940 percent as he voted to strip away health care, get rid of protections for Texans with pre-existing conditions, give himself and his friends enormous, budget-busting tax cuts and opposed efforts to lower prescription drug costs. How about those priorities!
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
HEADLINE: Campaign finance records show Rep. McCaul spent lavishly [Texas Signal, 9/10/19]
“‘[McCaul] has been looking for the exits for a while,’ Rice University political science professor Mark Jones said. ‘Being in the minority in the U.S. House is not a lot of fun.’” [Austin American-Statesman, 8/9/19]
“McCaul won by 4.3 percentage points to a lightly funded Democrat last year, after cruising to victory in previous elections. The close race was seen as a reflection of a district that is experiencing rapid demographic change.” [Austin American-Statesman, 8/9/19]
“In recent years, the populations of Latinos, African Americans and Asians in McCaul’s district have boomed. Between 2012 and 2017, Latinos grew from 26% to 29% of the population as over 60,000 moved there or were born, according to American Community Survey figures” [CNN, 8/18/19]
HEADLINE: Amid raft of Texas GOP retirements, Democrats give Rep. McCaul a shove [Houston Chronicle, 8/7/19]
The High-Flying Congressman Who Cares About Everything But TX-10
JET-SETTING ON TAXPAYER’S TIME WHILE FEATHERING HIS OWN NEST
Over 15 years in Congress, Congressman McCaul has spent tens of thousands of dollars on taxpayer-funded travel to places like France, Italy, Spain, Morocco, Panama, Argentina and Mexico.
And as one of the wealthiest Members of Congress, Mike McCaul has pursued policies that benefit multi-millionaires like himself, his family and their well-connected friends. Over 15 years in Congress, McCaul’s own net worth has grown by more than 940 percent as he’s voted to give taxpayer-funded bailouts to big banks, strip health care away from hardworking Texans, and blow up the national debt to give tax breaks to wealthy drug manufacturers and corporations that ship jobs overseas.
ON AN ENDLESS QUEST TO STRIP AWAY TEXAN’S HEALTH CARE
McCaul has bragged about his 46 separate efforts to repeal, defund, delay, or dismantle the Affordable Care Act. In July 2017, Congressman McCaul said on Fox News that he did not deserve to be re-elected if Republicans failed in repealing the ACA. On this note, we agree: Congressman McCaul does not deserve to be re-elected.
McCaul voted for the Republican effort to strip away health care and repeatedly voted to throw Texans with pre-existing conditions off their health insurance plans, decisions that will haunt him in his 2020 re-election effort.
SPENDING CAMPAIGN CASH TO SUPPORT HIS FAMILY’S LAVISH LIFESTYLE
The only thing that Mr. and Mrs. McCaul love more than luxury limousines is making their campaign donors pay for them. To date, Congressman McCaul has spent more than $36,000 on a luxury limousine service. That limousine service is so good that Mrs. McCaul wrote a glowing testimonial in which she kindly shares that they’re just using the limos for personal purposes.
While Congress McCaul uses his campaign account as a personal piggy bank, spending thousands at a time at luxe restaurants across the country – especially the posh Capitol Hill Club in Washington D.C. – everyday Texans are making tough choices between their prescriptions and saving for retirement.
MIKE MCCAUL REALLY, REALLY HATES HIS JOB
Congressman McCaul’s focus is everywhere but TX-10.
The truth is McCaul has offered himself as a nominee for several executive branch offices as well as the United States Senate. In 2012, McCaul first openly mulled running for the Senate. He did so again in 2017, considering replacing both Sen. Ted Cruz by announcing a primary challenge and Sen. John Cornyn by running for his seat amid rumors Cornyn was being considered for FBI Director.
Additionally, McCaul was on Trump’s shortlist for Secretary of Homeland Security before the position went to John Kelly. More recently, McCaul floated his name for Director of National Intelligence and even Secretary of State if Mike Pompeo decided to run for the Senate in Kansas.
Unfortunately for Mike McCaul, none of those attempts to get out of the job he currently holds, but really seems to hate, ever panned out.
PATH TO VICTORY
Texas’s 10th Congressional district stretches from the greater Houston suburbs to areas north of Austin. The district is growing and has strong minority compositions, with African Americans and Hispanic/Latinos making up a combined 30.0% of the district’s eligible voters. It is a district with a high rate of educational attainment, reflecting the kinds of dense suburbs that have shifted toward Democrats since 2016.
After decades as a Republican stronghold, the 2018 cycle showed evidence of shifts in demographics and voter attitudes, as Beto O’Rourke won the district with 50.2% of the major party vote. The 2018 congressional candidate won 47.8% of the major party vote, more than 7 points higher than 2016’s congressional support and 12 points higher than 2014’s congressional support.
A strong Democratic candidate can continue to build on recent trends toward Democrats, particularly in a cycle with Presidential level turnout.
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