Democrats target 'weak or vulnerable' House Republicans in aggressive 2024 attack plan: report

04 April 2023

When Republicans flipped the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2022 midterms, they obtained only a small single-digit majority — not the 30-seat or 40-seat majority that GOP strategists were hoping for. Far-right pundits at Fox News and Fox Business were predicting that 2022 would bring about a massive red wave like the 1994 and 2010 midterms; instead, Democrats slightly expanded their narrow effective majority in the U.S. Senate, won gubernatorial races in key swing states (including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Arizona) and lost the House by a much smaller margin than expected.

If Democrats are able to win back the House in 2024 — which remains to be seen — they won’t need to flip 20 or 30 seats in order to do it. Journalist Andrew Solender, in an article published by Axios on April 4, describes the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's attack plan for the U.S. House in 2024 — a plan that, according to Solender, involves targeting "weak or vulnerable" House Republicans in districts that former President Donald Trump won in 2020.

A DCCC list outlining this attack plan, Solender reports, "includes 31 GOP-held seats and two being vacated by Reps. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.)." Porter and Slotkin are both running for the U.S. Senate in states where Democratic senators are retiring: Sen. Dianne Feinstein in California and Sen. Debbie Stabenow in Michigan. Democratic strategists, in fact, breathed a sign of relief when Slotkin announced her Senate run, as she has been a tough campaigner in a highly competitive swing state that went to Trump in 2016 and President Joe Biden in 2020.

Solender explains, "On top of the seats targeted by House Majority PAC, most of which were won by President Biden in 2020, the DCCC's list includes additional targets in states where Republicans did abnormally well in 2022, such as Florida and California…. Among the targets are Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) and Scott Perry (R-Pa.), the chair of the right-wing (Freedom) Caucus. All three participated in the right-wing revolt during the speaker election in January."

The reporter adds, "The list also includes Derrick Van Orden (R-Wisc.), who was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, and Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), who has faced residency and ethics questions."

Many Democratic strategists believe that Republicans had an unfair advantage in the U.S. House in 2022 thanks to all the Republican gerrymandering that has taken place. But they are hoping that gerrymandering in Wisconsin will be slowed down if liberal candidate Janet Protasiewicz defeats far-right MAGA Republican Dan Kelly in a Wisconsin Supreme Court election that will be held on Tuesday, April 4. Protasiewicz has vowed to fight partisan gerrymandering in both U.S. House districts and Wisconsin State Legislature districts if elected.

"Democrats view Rep. Bryan Steil's (R-Wisc.) district as an opportunity," Solender notes. "It was formerly represented by (House) Speaker Paul Ryan and narrowly won by Trump in 2020."

Read Axios’ full report at this link.

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