In case you missed it, Pete Sessions is once again in the hot seat. He’s been there a lot recently whether it’s claiming “nobody is going to lose their coverage” under his party’s reckless, unpopular healthcare repeal bill, or telling his constituents they “don’t know how to listen.” This time around, Rep. Sessions is being pointed to as one of the most vulnerable Republicans in the House.
The Hill: Lawmakers targeted as district politics shift
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, who performed strongly with well-educated and minority voters, like those in the Dallas suburbs, won Sessions’s district by 2 percentage points.
…Democrats smell blood, knowing that Sessions is tied at the hip to an unpopular GOP House majority and to Trump himself. Making matters worse for Sessions, a president’s party typically loses House seats in the first midterm elections after a presidential race.
“Pete Sessions is married to the Trump agenda, 100 percent. And we are going to wrap that agenda around his neck,” Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa told The Hill.
Democrats already have one issue to use against Sessions: healthcare. He told CNN in March that “nobody is going to lose their coverage” under the GOP plan to replace ObamaCare. But nonpartisan analysis showed that 24 million people would lose coverage by 2026, including 14 million by 2018.
“He’s already had to defend himself on policy. … He’s either unaware or not taking account” of the political climate, one Democratic strategist familiar with the race said.
A Democrat familiar with DCCC recruitment told The Hill that enthusiasm is palpable in Sessions’s district, both among voters and potential challengers who the DCCC believes could become a “winnable candidate.”
A combination of the prospect of boosted turnout among Hispanic voters and a federal decision that’s expected to redraw some congressional maps in Democrats’ favor makes Democrats hopeful.
“The problem in Texas forever for Democrats has been turnout,” the source said.
“But right now, folks are so excited and there’s this energy. In a place like the Dallas suburbs, those are the people we need to turn [Texas’s 32nd District] into a toss-up.”