WaPo: House Democrats plan early for expanded 2026 map with recruiting push

[Dennis Donovan]

WaPo - (archived: https://archive.ph/Q4f9b ) House Democrats plan early for expanded 2026 map with recruiting push

A new fund by the House Majority PAC will hunt for Democrats to challenge overlooked Republican districts.

December 11, 2024 at 9:22 a.m.



By Michael Scherer

House Democrats launched a new effort Wednesday to recruit challengers for Republican districts in Arizona, Michigan, California and Virginia that were not contested this year, as a first step to taking back control of the House after falling just three seats short.

“The way we are looking at it is we have to start seeding the ground, recruiting the right candidates now, knowing that Democrats could shift the ground with Donald Trump and Republican control in Washington,” said Mike Smith, president of House Majority PAC, an independent group closely aligned with Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York). “We are focused on expanding the map and recruiting candidates that have voted Republican but shifted toward Democrats in recent years.”

The list of new targets includes Republican Reps. Bill Huizenga in Michigan’s 4th District in the southwest part of the state, Rob Wittman in Virginia’s 1st District in the Richmond suburbs, Elijah Crane in Arizona’s 2nd District, which includes some Phoenix exurbs, and Kevin Kiley in California’s 3rd District in the northern Sierra Nevada.

The group will launch a 2026 Recruitment Fund to find strong Democratic candidates for those seats and at least 25 others, including longtime Democratic targets such as the New York seat held by Michael Lawler, the Arizona seat held by Juan Ciscomani and the Wisconsin seat held by Derrick Van Orden, who all held off well-funded challenges this year.

A recent analysis by the Cook Political Report’s David Wasserman found that Democrats won 17 of the 25 closest elections in November but still fell short of taking back control of the House as Republicans nationwide won 2.7 percent more votes for Congress than Democrats. Wasserman’s analysis found that the House majority was decided by just 7,309 votes in three districts out of 148 million votes cast nationwide.

/snip

[jimfields33]

1. How the heck is the below possible?

Republicans nationwide won 2.7 percent more votes for Congress than Democrats

[OnDoutside]

2. Possibilities include

1) The Democratic message isn't good enough or isn't easily pitched enough to resonate ?
2) As suggested, the wrong people are being selected to run ?
3) The Democratic Party is overestimating the desire for social change
4) It's inflation, inflation, inflation.
5) The American people elected a rapist and a Congress full of crooks. It's just where they're at, Dems need to stop appealing to their better nature ?
6) Republicans (and their billionaire backers) have spent billions in bringing the Democrats numbers down, with little coming back at Repugs. It's says something that Americans believe or don't care about what Democrats have to say, even though it's good and true.

[jimfields33]

3. So depressing.

Number 5 especially.

[OnDoutside]

4. Yes, absolutely, but maybe it may be as simple as that, unfortunately.

[lame54]

5. I hope they can do it without asking for donations...

They are showing no fight or unity for resistance