Democrats are seizing on momentum heading into the midterms as President Donald Trump’s approval remains deep underwater with exactly six months to go.
The Democratic Party’s campaign arm has grown increasingly confident in its ability to reclaim the House majority from Republicans as the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) announced on Monday it was expanding its “Red to Blue” program to a new round of candidates looking to unseat Republicans.
Democrats only need to flip a net three to four seats to retake the House majority in November, giving Democrats the power to slam the brakes on Trump’s agenda while supercharging their ability to investigate the president and top members of his administration.
Eight new candidates have been added to the Democrats’ list of competitive districts with surging resources, including staff, fundraising, training and other support. It comes after the DCCC announced its first top 12 candidates in February.
The latest polling shows Democrats have a five-point advantage in the generic congressional matchup. The Washington Post/ABC News poll shows Democrats up 49 percent to Republicans’ 44 percent.
“As the American people reject House Republicans’ disastrous, cost-spiking agenda, House Democrats have the momentum to take back the majority,” said DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene.
“These candidates will win because they are authentic, independent-minded leaders who are rooted in their communities, demonstrating they have what it takes to win and fight to make life more affordable for hardworking families,” she added.
The latest top-tier candidates the DCCC is going all in for include Marlene Galán-Woods in Arizona, Jasmeet Bains in California, Jessica Killin in Colorado, Joe Baldacci in Maine, Bob Harvie and Bob Brooks in Pennsylvania, and Bobby Pulido and Johnny Garcia in Texas. The group is running in districts currently represented by Republicans or for open seats.
The president’s party tends to lose seats in midterms, and House Republicans are already working with a razor-thin majority. The GOP has 217 seats to the Democrats’ 212. Five seats are vacant after two House members, one Republican and one Democrat, died in office, and three resigned, including two Democrats and a Republican.
The Washington Post/ABC News poll giving Democrats an advantage was the latest in a series of surveys showing Democrats leading in a hypothetical matchup.
It found Democrats have a nine-point advantage among those certain they will vote in November, and Democrats were more likely than Republicans to say voting this November is more important than in past midterms, by 73 percent to 52 percent.
Trump has been freaking out about the looming midterms for months, repeatedly noting that the party in power typically loses seats.
Since last summer, he’s been pushing Republicans to gerrymander districts to their advantage in a move that has launched a fierce redistricting war.
On Sunday, he issued a panicked post on Truth Social in which he urged Republicans to further redraw districts to their advantage after the Supreme Court last week struck another blow to the Voting Rights Act, paving the way for states to eliminate majority minority districts.
“We cannot allow there to be an Election that is conducted unconstitutionally simply for the ‘convenience’ of State Legislatures. If they have to vote twice, so be it,” Trump wrote.
“We should demand that State Legislatures do what the Supreme Court says must be done. That is more important than administrative convenience. The byproduct is that the Republicans will receive more than 20 House Seats in the upcoming Midterms!”
Several Republican-led states have already indicated they would redraw congressional maps to cut out districts held by Democrats in the South in response to the court ruling on the Louisiana districts.
It remains to be seen how much of an impact redrawing maps will have on the midterms as some filing deadlines have already passed.
Trump has also tried to argue that Democrats have seen a series of victories since he returned to office because he personally is not on the ballot, even though the midterms are largely seen as a referendum on the president.
However, Democrats could still face challenges depending on who primary voters pick as their nominees across the country as the party mounts its push over the next six months to reclaim control of Congress.
The latest polling found that 53 percent of Americans viewed the Democratic Party as “too liberal.” That was more than the 49 percent of Republicans who viewed the current GOP as “too conservative.”
