DCCC kicks off 2020 effort to protect its House majority
Heidi Przybyla
WASHINGTON — Fresh off a 40-seat pickup in 2018, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is launching its 2020 campaign on Thursday hoping to preserve and even bolster the party’s House majority. The DCCC, House Democrats’ official campaign arm, is making an initial multi-million-dollar investment, deploying 60 grassroots organizers — the largest number this early in the campaign season.
In an interview with NBC News, DCCC Chair Cheri Bustos, D-Ill., acknowledged House Democrats currently hold a “fragile majority” that needs protection. Still, she said the committee sees opportunities to expand its reach in traditionally Republican-leaning districts in states including Texas and Arizona.
The DCCC’s paid grassroots organizers are being sent to 33 Republican-held or open districts and protecting newly elected Democrats in at least 14 states, Bustos said. Most will be based in middle class and upscale suburban areas that are diversifying, such as Orange County, California; Las Vegas and Minneapolis.
The 60 organizers are triple the number the DCCC deployed at a similar point in the 2018 cycle.
In addition voter registration drives and other traditional grassroots activities, DCCC officials said the organizers will focus on “Republican accountability.”
In 2018, such “accountability” measures included large protests outside the office of California Rep. Darrell Issa, who ultimately chose to retire rather than lose his seat to a Democrat.
The organizers are being trained in similar tactics to “double down on that effort and exploit opportunities earlier and more aggressively,” said Cole Leiter, a DCCC spokesman.
Republicans, for their part, feel they have an opportunity to pick up ground in 2020.
To win back the majority, Republicans would need to pick up 18 seats. There are 26 Democrats who won in the 2018 midterms by five points or fewer.
Republicans are targeting 55 seats, said Chris Pack, a National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman. He said Republicans plan to frame the choice for voters by focusing proposals from some Democrats including the Green New Deal and Medicare for All and characterizing them as “socialism.”
“These are just sorely out of step with the majority of voters,” said Pack. “
Bustos, who is one of 31 Democrats representing districts Trump carried in 2016, said focusing on issues that have broad bipartisan appeal, such as developing a plan to lower the costs of healthcare and pass an infrastructure package and sweeping anti-corruption legislation, is the key to holding onto vulnerable seats.
She said she is encouraging freshmen in particular to hold town hall meetings to stay connected with voters.
“You go home, you listen to people. You use your two ears and your one mouth proportionally,” said Bustos. “At every turn, you have to resist appearing like you’ve become coastal. You never lose sight of where you come from.”
The DCCC in 2018 concentrated its efforts on 25 Republican incumbents who represented districts Hillary Clinton won in 2016. Democrats picked up 22 of those seats. Just three Republicans now represent districts Clinton carried: John Katko of New York, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Will Hurd in Texas.
In 2020, Bustos said, the battlefield will include districts where Democrats came within 5 points of winning in 2018, with a heavy emphasis on expanding into suburbs President Trump won in 2016. Polls show the biggest erosion of Trump’s support has come among well-educated suburban voters.
The party is doubling its targets in Texas after successfully defeating two Republican incumbents — Pete Sessions in the Dallas area and John Culberson outside Houston.
Other suburban areas Democrats are targeting include: St. Louis, Miami, Tampa, Detroit, Chicago’s Western suburbs and Phoenix.
NBC New political editor Carrie Dann contributed to this report.