House GOP to target 47 ‘vulnerable’ Democrats to capture House majority in 2022

The campaign arm for House Republicans is spotlighting 47 seats currently held by what they consider to be "vulnerable Democrats" that they see as "prime pick-up opportunities" for the GOP in the 2022 midterm elections.

National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) chair Rep. Tom Emmer, in unveiling the list on Wednesday, vowed, "We’re going to retire Speaker Pelosi once and for all."

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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.

"Midterm elections are historically checks on the party in power and I believe that’s going to be bad news for House Democrats. It’s not going to be easy but we’re going to finish the job that we started," Emmer said during a conference call with reporters.

Pointing to the 47 Democrats the NRCC’s targeting, Emmer said, "They include 29 Battleground Democrats where President Biden lost the district or where the 2020 presidential or congressional margin was within 5 points."

The four-term congressman from Minnesota said his list also includes "eight underperforming Democrats, these are weak incumbents who won by less than 10% and underperformed the presidential ballot margin in their district."

And Emmer said there are also what he termed as "10 Redistricting Watch Democrats, who currently represent districts in states that are going to gain or lose seats during the reapportionment, or they represent districts in states that have a redistricting commission."

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Looking back to the GOP’s victories the 2020 House races, Emmer emphasized "we’re going to build off of last cycle’s successful blueprint. That means we’re going to recruit great candidates again. We’re going to deliver a winning message to voters and we’re going raise the resources that are necessary to win."

And pointing to the policies and proposals being pushed by Biden’s administration and congressional Democrats, the NRCC chair pledged, "Every voter is going to have clear understand of the Democrats’ socialist agenda and the damaging impact it’s going to have on their daily lives."

Among those on the list of 47 Democrats is Emmer’s counterpart, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, who recently took over as chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).

Responding to the NRCC’s new list of "vulnerable" Democrats, the DCCC highlighted House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy’s refusal to discipline freshman GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia over controversial comments she made before she won election to Congress.

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"The American people are looking for leaders they can count on to crush the coronavirus, get them relief checks, and put them safely back on the job after President Trump and Washington Republicans’ pure incompetence left millions out of work. But instead, Minority Leader McCarthy won’t stop reminding the country that he is too weak to stand up to the dangerous QAnon conspiracists taking over his party and sparking violence on the streets that left a police officer murdered. That’s a contrast American voters will not forget," DCCC communications director Cole Leiter said.

The spotlight last week on Greene came as Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming – the number three lawmaker in House GOP leadership – beat back a push by Trump loyalists to strip her of her leadership position for voting last month to impeach the then-president. But Cheney was censured by the Wyoming GOP this past weekend. And other congressional Republicans who voted to impeach Trump or who’ve been critical of the former president have also faced retribution.

Emmer, asked about the internal GOP division, said, "There’s some stuff that has to work its way through the system but I’m very confident that we’ve already started that process and that we will be unified."

Trump has vowed to play an influential role with the GOP going forward, as he and his allies start to target Republicans who’ve crossed him.

Emmer praised the former president, saying that "Trump and his administration implemented some amazing policies for this country."

And he emphasized that "Republicans need to celebrate those policies. I think we need to continue to embrace them because our Democrat colleagues have said they’re going to void all of it and I think they’re going to run into a lot of trouble when they do."

Asked by Fox News if he would embrace support from Trump as he works to regain the House majority, Emmer answered, "As to what President Trump wants to do going forward, I’ll leave that to him."

But he said that he needs "everybody on deck" in the campaign battle ahead.