Weekly House Cleaning
A DCCC News Roundup
Friends – We’ve hit 2016 and know that the Presidential can be a bit of a … distraction from House campaigns, so we want to make catching up on the news you need a little bit tidier.
Introducing the DCCC’s “Weekly House Cleaning” news roundup. We promise it will never be too long, will arrive once a week (usually on Fridays), and will not be full of garbage blog posts with Microsoft Paint commentary. Hopefully this will be a helpful review of the week, with news articles, polling and other relevant information. And if it’s not the news you’re looking for – let us know how to be better.
THE PRESIDENTIAL SHINE
We are fast approaching the early states and it’s clear that Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are inflicting damage on all levels of the Republican party. Of course, if either Trump or Cruz are the nominee, the negative impact on down-ballot Republicans in places with socially-moderate, diverse or independent voters will be significant.
Here are a few recent stories about the Trump and Cruz impact in races from Pennsylvania and New Jersey to Florida, Illinois, Nevada and Texas:
From National Journal, the Trump-Mania continues in CA-25, CO-06, FL-26, IL-10, NV-04, TX-23 and VA-10.
Roll Call notes that while the DCCC has been on recruitment offense since day one, Trump or Cruz are certainly an added bonus in places like New York, Virginia, Florida, Colorado and Nevada.
And in districts like NJ-05 or FL-07, where the makeup of the congressional district district has shifted out from under conservative lawmakers like Scott Garrett and John Mica over time, Politico notes that Trump and Cruz could hurt the House Republican.
And the Associated Press gets Senators on record about what all of us have seen inside the beltway: Cruz is deeply unpopular with his Senate colleages. More notable for House races is this quote from Mitch McConnell’s former Chief, noting that if Cruz is the nominee, “state and local races that take place in ideologically moderate electorates could be a bloodbath.” He’s also a “fraud” that turns off independents.
But even if Trump or Cruz aren’t the nominee: the damage is done to the entire Republican brand. Their presence in the Republican presidential debate has pulled the entire Republican narrative to the right, towards social-intolerance, hate, and hard-right policies that isolate women, Latinos and working families.
The evidence of Trump and Cruz’s negative down-ballot impact keeps rolling in. Just this week, NBC and the Wall Street Journal released a new poll showing that 42% of registered voters look less favorably at the Republican party after following the Republican presidential primary, and only 19% look more favorably. With more and more people voting straight party line, this is a problem for House Republicans.
FRESH FACES
Emilio Huerta in CA-21: From the Bakersfield Californian: Civil Rights Attorney Huerta taking on Valadao because the 21st District has struggled to get its share of the pie.
THE DIRT FROM THE DISTRICTS
NY-01: Talk tough, act 33% of the time? From the New York Post: “Rep. Lee Zeldin has positioned himself as a foreign policy firebrand with his tough talk on taking out ISIS. But Zeldin has skipped out from his assignment as a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.” His Democratic challengers react.
ME-02: Did you hear Maine’s Governor say something? Bruce Poliquin didn’t: a Bangor Daily News reader notes that Bruce Poliquin should condemn LePage. Instead, Poliquin’s silence has been deafening.
NJ-05: Scott Garrett is Wall Street’s Bigot. Not our words – look at the Bloomberg Businessweek dead tree! More and more, Scott Garrett’s outburst in opposition to the NRCC, and their support for gay candidates, is coming back to bite him. Joshua Greene writes up the whole saga here. The Bergen Country record notes that Capitol One, has joined the long list of Wall Street donors who have stopped contributing to Garrett.
AZ-01: The clown car of a primary got even crazier with the addition of two-time failed candidate Wendy “Social Security is Unconstitutional” Rogers. There’s no question that this is going to be one of the most crowded, divisive, and scandal-plagued primaries in recent memory.
CA-25: Freshman Steve “I’ll Drop Your Ass” Knight was skewered by the Los Angeles Daily News’ Editorial Board for his silence on the Porter Ranch Gas Leak.
CO-06: The Colorado Independent noted that Senator Morgan Carroll is known for her “legendary” work ethic while Congressman Coffman got knocked around by Aurora’s hometown newspaper and was ripped by a relative of an Aurora victim for his insensitivity following President Obama’s remarks on gun violence.
MT-AL: Denise Juneau, Montana’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, helps state reach a record- breaking graduation rate. Juneau speaks to The Missoulian: “We all know that more high school graduates means a stronger economy for our state, higher wages, it means more opportunities.” Montana will see a $6 million annual boost to the state’s economy from the graduates since 2009.
NE-02: Wondering what that smell is? It’s just establishment favorite Don Bacon getting sizzled in the polls – 31% to 11%.
FL-26: Freshman Carlos Curbelo repeatedly tries, and fails, to walk the line on gun control in his highly-competitive seat, particularly post-redistricting. From the Miami Herald: “Annette Taddeo lambasted Curbelo for his statement, saying the Congressman’s words ring hollow when the GOP-controlled Congress has failed to take up any gun-control legislation, noting, ‘Maybe it’s political for Curbelo, since the NRA sent $67,000-plus for him to get elected.’” Seperatly, Curbelo voted to defund Planned Parenthood, again.
MI-08: Melissa Gilbert is standing out this year, first in her choice to challenge Mike Bishop, and then in her involvement with community events and more. A race to watch in 2016.
NY-21: “It’s as if there are two Stefaniks at war with each other.” In an editorial reviewing Congresswoman Elise Stefanik’s first year in office, the Glens Falls Post-Star editorial board expressed “concerns” about Stefanik’s conflicting positions and questionable motives on issues critical to the North Country.