ORLANDO, FL — As House Republicans voice confidence about their odds of taking back control of the House, Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) has been hitting the trail for candidates in districts across the country in the final stretch in an effort to shore up seats on Election Day.
In October and early November alone, Scalise traveled to 17 different states and did events with 42 members and candidates in the hope of giving them an edge in their races.
In the week ahead of Nov. 8, the Louisiana Republican barnstormed for candidates in Connecticut, where Republicans see pickup opportunities on the national level for the first time in more than a decade, before stumping for GOP candidates George Santos, Anthony D’Esposito, and New York gubernatorial nominee Lee Zeldin on Long Island, New York, and then venturing to Florida to appear at events alongside candidates Aaron Bean and Cory Mills.
While the pace for members of leadership is intense in the final stretch, Scalise said he’s feeling good about where the party stands at this point in the cycle and enjoys traveling the country to boost the front-line members — a group he said he sees as shrinking due to the makeup of districts.
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“It’s a lot of fun to get out on the campaign trail and go into swing districts and help the candidates who have been battling for, in some cases, over a year in a tough environment. I mean, there are fewer and fewer swing districts now in Congress — probably 90% of the districts are either very conservative and very liberal,” he told the Washington Examiner in an interview.
“That means there’s only a few remaining where all the money gets spent — the money that comes in is still increasing, but it’s spending [in] fewer districts, so then the district becomes a $20 or $30 million race, and they’re very intense.”
The Louisiana Republican (who was joined by Republican members and candidates Reps. Guy Reschenthaler of Pennsylvania, Lisa McClain of Michigan, Jake Ellzey and August Pfluger of Texas, Vern Buchanan and Michael Waltz of Florida, Del. Jenniffer Gonzalez of Puerto Rico, and Wyoming GOP nominee Harriet Hageman on the trail in recent days) said he believes it’s important to show candidates that top members have their back, noting that it can be a challenging experience to run for office.
“You know, it’s very tough on a candidate, and when we come in, it’s No. 1 you’re coming in to help give them support, maybe do fundraisers, you do rallies with their supporters. But you’re also showing them that there’s a team behind you — we want you to be a part of our team,” he said.
“And there’s a cavalry that’s going to come and help you out these tough closing days to give you a boost to show you that there are a lot of other people outside of your own district that care about you and want you to win,” the Republican from Louisiana added.
Scalise said that he believes the current environment with high inflation and gas prices, in conjunction with strong candidate recruitment, has allowed Republicans to play in districts that no one saw possible in recent cycles, adding that he’s excited about the diverse makeup that the GOP conference will likely see following the election.
“I mean, these are tough races. These are tough districts. But we would have no chance to win in some of these districts if we didn’t have these great candidates. And you, I think it’s going to surprise a lot of people when they see just how diverse the field of candidates we have that are going to win and be part of a great Republican majority,” he said.
Scalise said he’s excited about the party potentially having substantial gains in traditionally blue areas such as New England and Oregon, arguing that the dwindling number of centrists has allowed the GOP to garner traction with a new faction of voters.
“On the Left, what you’ve seen is they really don’t have any moderates left. It’s either liberals or socialists, and the socialism has drawn the liberals over to their side, and frankly, it’s why we’re winning in a lot of liberal districts, because the Democrats in those districts don’t like the socialist movement to the Left, and it’s allowed us to compete in places like Portland, Oregon, where we can win two seats, and I think it’ll surprise a lot of people,” he said.
“There’s zero Republicans today in the New England states. We could come up with five Republicans there, and they’re all phenomenal candidates, you know, and of course, there’s Bruce Poliquin, who’s had been a member before and is going to win again in Maine, and he’s just, he’s the Energizer Bunny. He’s easy. He’s a guy that, just, if you’re having a tough day, you call Bruce, and you feel pumped up because he never slows down, and he’s always got a great attitude.”
And the candidates he has campaigned with said they are feeling bullish on their odds of winning their races, with Santos, the only gay Republican running this cycle who is vying to win New York’s 4th Congressional District (which is rated a D+1), stating he thinks they “take at least 40 to 50 seats this Tuesday — I’m very optimistic about it.”
And Mills, who is running in Florida’s 7th District (which was redrawn to an R+5 district), said having members like Scalise come out to events has been beneficial in helping motivate voters.
“I think it helps a lot. You know, one, it gets new attention. I think people get tired of just hearing me talk, right? So they like to hear from all the other existing members what they’re doing, what they know — they have insider knowledge,” he told the Washington Examiner.
While seats such as Florida’s 4th and 7th Districts lean more Republican after redistricting, Scalise said one should never presume it’s a sure thing, arguing that one has to put the needed work in to get candidates over the finish line.
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“You don’t want to take for granted a seat, with Aaron [Bean] being that is a D-to-R flip — to flip five seats to win the House, that’s one of the five, and on paper, it might look easy, but you can’t take those for granted because that is one of the ones we need to actually win the House back. So you know, there’s a lot of 50-50s, we’re going to fight in those too, but make sure you don’t take for granted the ones that are an R+5 that we’ve never had before,” he said.
“And once he’s in, you’re not going to have to worry about it, but you make sure you help them get in.”
