WASHINGTON (AP) — After a tumultuous and unproductive session of Congress, nearly 50 members of the House of Representatives have decided not to seek re-election or run for higher office this year, leaving Democratic vacancies in several tight races who takes control of the House of Representatives to party.
Both Republicans and Democrats have had their fair share of turnover — with former Republican Kevin McCarthy, a Republican, being the most prominent — but Democrats are also losing huge fundraisers who have successfully held off GOP challengers in recent years. With competition raging for just a few dozen seats, Democrats are depending on new faces to hold their ground, while Republicans sense openings in four races in Virginia, Michigan and California.
The GOP is directing resources and trying to neutralize the issue of abortion access in those districts, hoping to go on the offensive and maintain a slim majority. The party has candidates who previously fell short in their efforts to unseat Democrats but who are now optimistic they can build on their campaign experience and do better if they don’t face a sitting president.
Democrats, benefiting from a windfall in campaign donations and voters motivated by reproductive rights, are turning to candidates with track records in office. Most of them are state legislators who already have legislative achievements, relationships with constituents and experience campaigning.
Either way, making up for the fundraising and political skills of prominent Democrats in the three states will be an uphill battle.
Democratic Reps. Katie Porter of California, Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, and Elissa Slotkin and Dan Kildee, both of Michigan, raised a total of more than $50 million during the last election cycle. Slotkin, Spanberger and Porter all came to Congress in 2018 as part of a wave of female lawmakers who flipped seats and handed control of the House of Representatives to Democrats.
All have their sights set on higher office: Slotkin is running for Michigan’s Senate seat, Spanberger is running for governor of Virginia next year, while Porter fell short in a Senate bid earlier this year.
Meanwhile, Kildee decided not to run for a sixth term after a battle with cancer last year.
This is how the races to replace them go:
Michigan’s 8th District
Central Michigan has been represented by Kildee or his uncle, former Rep. Dale Kildee, for nearly five decades. And Kildee said it’s important to him that he surrenders his seat to a Democrat.
“It’s a lot easier to leave knowing we have a chance to hold the seat,” he said.
But Paul Junge, a Republican who lost to Kildee in 2022, said Kildee’s retirement also made his decision to run again much easier.
“Incumbency is powerful for a reason. People know the name. They feel like they know that representative,” said Junge, a former prosecutor and TV host. “This time I don’t have that problem. And in fact, as the second candidate in this district, I was reaching out to people who already knew me.”
Junge also called 2022 a tough year for Michigan Republicans as voters looked to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution and re-elect a popular Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer. He self-financed his campaign, giving him a cash advantage this year.
So Junge has been scouring the district in his Ford F-150, looking for the union members and workers who once made Michigan a blue wall of support for Democrats but who have drifted toward Republicans in recent years.
Still, Democrats point out that Junge has spent most of his life outside the Michigan district and call him a “carpetbagger.” Democrat Kristen McDonald Rivet, a state senator, talks about her working-class roots and her experience raising six children in the state of Michigan. community.
Rivet described herself as a “moderate” and pointed to her time in the Legislature, during which she championed tax breaks for families with children.
“I believe that when we look at policy, we should prioritize middle-class families and working-class families,” she said.
Rivet also encourages Junge to have an abortion, highlighting his opposition to abortion rights in TV advertisements. Junge has responded that he would not support a federal abortion ban.
Michigan’s 7th District
In another race in central Michigan, Democrats are also using a state legislature to try to keep Slotkin’s seat.
“When it comes to abortion, I think it will always be an incredibly important issue because it is an issue of personal freedom. That won’t change,” said Curtis Hertel Jr., who served four terms as a senator before working in Whitmer’s administration.
He is confronted by a former state colleague. Tom Barrett, who previously served in the Senate, is running again after losing to Slotkin by 5 points in 2022. Barrett vastly underspent that year, but has been able to keep a better pace with Hertel’s fundraising so far this year. .
Barrett argued that a host of problems — illegal immigration, a cost-of-living crisis, crime in Lansing, the county’s largest city, and global threats — have only increased in the past two years.
“I feel like there’s unfinished business,” he said.
Barrett has not backed away from his record of supporting abortion restrictions in the state House, saying he is “pro-life,” but he also described abortion access as a standing issue in Michigan.
Virginia’s 7th District
The closely watched House race to replace Spanberger is playing out in northern Virginia between two Army veterans and attorneys: Democrat Eugene Vindman and Republican Derrick Anderson.
Vindman, who pledges to work to restore abortion rights that were in place under Roe v. Wade, has proven to be a prodigious fundraiser and is on pace to surpass Spanberger’s 2022 totals, giving him the advantage of early advertising. He and his twin brother, Alexander Vindman, played a major role in the first impeachment of former President Donald Trump.
Anderson, whose campaign did not yield an interview, emphasizes his background in the Army’s special forces and tries to present a friendlier profile on abortion rights and economic issues. However, Anderson, who is engaged to be married, raised eyebrows when he posed with a friend’s wife and three daughters in a campaign photo shoot that could be mistaken for a family photo.
California’s 47th District
On the West Coast, Republicans are trying to go on the offensive against Dave Min, the Democratic senator whom Porter recruited to fill her seat. The GOP super PAC, the Congressional Leadership Fund, launched an ad this week criticizing its support for criminal justice changes in the California State Assembly.
Republican Scott Baugh, former Orange County GOP chairman, ticked off a list of local violent crimes and said Democrats are responsible for the “general concern that we are less safe than we were four years ago.”
He was heavily outpaced by Porter in 2022, but said this year “spending won’t be as lopsided.”
Min pointed out that he has the support of the Los Angeles police union and has a history in the State Assembly of advocating for immigrants, who make up a large portion of the district.
He also has a fundraising advantage, but says he is still campaigning with the mentality that the election “could be decided by a few hundred votes and potentially determine control of Congress.”