The top outside group that backs House Republicans says recruiting more females and minorities and candidates who are veterans -- along with more potent fundraising -- are two keys for the GOP to win back the majority in the House of Representatives in next year’s midterm elections.
"We enter the 2022 on the cusp of taking the House Majority for Republicans. If we stay vigilant to raise the money, recruit the candidates, and remind the voters of the clear contrast between our parties’ vision [sic] for America, we believe voters will respond in kind and elect a new generation of Republican leadership in House of Representatives," Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF) president Dan Conston highlighted in a new memo.
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The GOP controlled the House majority for eight years before losing control of the chamber in the 2018 midterms. But Republicans defied expectations and took a big bite out of the Democrats’ majority in last November’s elections and only need to flip five seats in 2022 to regain the control of the House. In modern times, the party that controls the White House traditionally loses roughly 25 House seats in midterm elections.
"In 2020, all 15 of the seats Republicans flipped were won by a woman, a minority, or a veteran. They were candidates of character, heroism, and achievement," Conston spotlighted in the memo, which was first reported by Axios and also obtained by Fox News. "Continuing to recruit similar candidates is a foundational building block to the Majority in 2022."
Conston warns that "the single biggest threat to Republicans taking back the Majority is insufficient candidate fundraising." He noted that "in competitive races, half of all GOP incumbents and all but three GOP challengers were outraised in 2020. In the final stretch, those Democrat candidates spent 2.5 times more than Republican candidates on television, an $88 million gap."
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And the group, which is closely aligned with House GOP Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, emphasized that candidate fundraising will be a "key criterion for earning CLF’s support."
The CFL also said painting contrasts with the Biden administration and the Democrats who control both houses of Congress is another key to success in 2022.
"As Democrats move further left and increasingly out-of-touch, we believe voters will unite behind shared conservative principles that foster opportunity for all Americans and support small businesses and American workers," Conston predicted.
The group also pointed to the once in a decade redistricting process as another benefit. While acknowledging "some problems in Democrat-led states like New York and Illinois," Conston argued that "we expect redistricting to benefit Republicans for a simple reason: Voters are fleeing poorly-run high-tax Democrat-held states for the friendly environs of well-run low-tax Republican-led states."
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He added, "That shift and GOP control of key states means Republicans will likely pick up multiple seats in Texas and Florida, as well as seats in Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, and Montana."
Conston also spotlighted three early House Democrat targets: Reps. Ron Kind of Wisconsin, Jared Golden of Maine and Matt Cartwright of Pennsylvania.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), the House Democrats re-election arm, pointed to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by right wing extremists and other supporters of then-President Trump, in their response to the CLF memo.
"There’s no news here - Washington Republicans already made their offensive plan public two months ago: they encouraged the assault on the United States Capitol that killed a police officer and wounded dozens more," DCCC spokesman Andrew Godinich told Fox News. "Meanwhile, House Democrats are already hard at work delivering wins for the American people over the objections of their Republican counterparts: delivering stimulus checks, aid to small businesses, and funding for vaccines so we can finally crush the COVID pandemic."