House Democrats are pouring money and resources into four congressional seats in a bid to win back the majority as the 2024 election cycle heats up.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), the House Democrats’ campaign arm, announced a new slate of races for its ‘Red to Blue’ program. They’re targeting vulnerable Republican lawmakers in California, New York and New Jersey, as well as an open California seat being vacated by Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif.
‘I am excited to work with this diverse group of public servants, veterans, and leaders to take the House back in November,’ DCCC Chair Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., said in a Thursday statement. ‘Their records of service stand in stark contrast to their extreme and dangerous far-right opponents.’
The ‘Red To Blue’ program is dedicated to ensuring its selected candidates ‘receive strategic guidance, staff resources, training, and fundraising support to ensure they are in the best possible position to win in November.’
Democrats’ laser focus on vulnerable GOP seats, including lawmakers who represent districts won by President Biden in 2020, comes as the House Republican majority prepares to grapple with just a one-seat margin of power after multiple early departures.
In California’s 45th Congressional District, Democrats are targeting Rep. Michelle Steel, R-Calif., by bolstering Army veteran and business owner Derek Tran.
‘Tran is equipped to deliver that message to the voters in this diverse Biden +6.8 district with a broad coalition of support, impressive fundraising apparatus, and compelling contrast with the far-right incumbent,’ the DCCC said.
Steel campaign spokesman Lance Trover responded, ‘There’s only one candidate in CA_45 who’s committed to not voting for higher taxes on working families and that’s Michelle Steel – Derek Tran won’t make that commitment to Southern Californians because he supports raising taxes.’
Democrats are also hoping to keep control of Porter’s seat after she announced her departure from the House for an ill-fated Senate bid.
The DCCC is eyeing California state Sen. Dave Min as her replacement, calling him a ‘proven vote-getter and common-sense champion for the middle class.’ He’s running against former California state Assemblyman Scott Baugh, who has been endorsed by GOP leaders.
‘It seems that House Democrats are admitting what we already know,’ Baugh told Fox News Digital. ‘That CA-47 is no longer a blue seat. We will win this seat in November because Dave Min is a radical left-wing legislator who is very out of touch with this district.’
On the East Coast, the DCCC is hoping to flip New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District back to blue after it was won by first-term Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. in November 2022, who unseated a Democratic incumbent. To do so, it’s bolstering Sue Altman, a former teacher and former state director of the leftist Working Families Party.
Kean’s campaign told Fox News Digital that Altman ‘is going to cost Democrat stakeholders like the DCCC a lot of campaign dollars trying to run away from her record as head of the Working Families Party in New Jersey where she advocated for insane policies like defunding the police.’
And the Long Island, New York, seat in the 4th Congressional District currently held by first-term Republican Rep. Anthony D’Esposito is also on the DCCC’s list, with Democrats promoting former local official Laura Gillen to flip the district blue.
D’Esposito’s campaign told Fox News Digital, ‘While Congressman D’Esposito continues to put the interests of Nassau County neighbors ahead of partisan politics, perennial candidate Laura Gillen wants to be a rubber stamp vote in favor of Joe Biden’s reckless spending and pro-criminal open borders agenda.’
Referencing past reports about each of the candidates, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) said of the Democrats’ list, ‘A drunk-driving politician, an ambulance-chasing lawyer, a perennial candidate and a radical progressive activist would make for a great cast on a Bravo reality show.’
‘However, watching them on CSPAN greenlight every liberal pipedream from defunding the police to even more open-border policies would be a nightmare for American families,’ the NRCC said.