These women have jobs representing voters in Congressional Districts Trump won in. 2016…
Their voters have little in common with AOC’s safely Democratic New York City House District….
This is another example of how Democrats need to keep a ‘big tent’ campaign for next year..Not a strong lefty tilt across the board…
Democratic House freshmen banding together to help each other raise money to keep their seats in 2020 are, from left, Reps. Mikie Sherrill, Abigail Spanberger, Elissa Slotkin, and Chrissy Houlahan, along with Rep. Elaine Luria. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Five freshman Democratic women in the House want the world to know that the newcomers receiving the most attention so far in the 116th Congress aren’t reflective of the women who ran and won in tough districts last fall.
At an event to tout their formation of a joint fundraising committee to tap each other’s donors (and hopefully bring in more), the five, all with military or intelligence backgrounds, never mentioned New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez by name.
But the message from Reps. Elaine Luria and Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania was clear: Ocasio-Cortez doesn’t represent them, and she’s not the one who’s going to help Democrats maintain their majority.
“There’s been an overwhelming focus on a small number of members in our caucus who did not flip seats, who did not help win the House, who are doing what is right for their districts, but who don’t represent our districts, or at least my district,” Slotkin said at a Friday breakfast with a small group of reporters.
All five flipped seats previously held by Republicans last fall, helping Democrats retake the House. Now they’re banding together to help each other fundraise to hold on to those seats in 2020.
With the exception of Houlahan, the women are all running for re-election in districts President Donald Trump won in 2016. Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rates those four races as competitive, and the National Republican Congressional Committee is targeting the four Democratic incumbents.
Ocasio-Cortez defeated a powerful member of leadership in a primary last year, but her Bronx district is safe Democratic turf…..