EXCLUSIVE — Republicans in key House races will receive a boost from the Koch network’s Latino political organization before November’s general election.
LIBRE Initiative Action has endorsed Rob Bresnahan, a businessman running in Pennsylvania‘s Scranton congressional district, in addition to Reps. Jen Kiggans (R-VA), from Virginia‘s Virginia Beach congressional district, and David Schweikert (R-AZ), from Arizona’s Scottsdale suburbs congressional district.
“Latinos are tired of bad policies, broken promises, and an economy that is not working for them,” Sandra Benitez, a LIBRE Initiative Action senior adviser, told the Washington Examiner. “We need leaders who will bring positive change and are focused on growing the economy, removing barriers to opportunity, and driving policies that give us a chance at achieving our ‘American dream.’”
“This is why LIBRE Action is excited to leverage our grassroots army and resources in favor of Bresnahan, Kiggans, and Schweikert,” Benitez said. “Latinos are positioned to play a critical role this November, and LIBRE Action will make sure our community is mobilized to support the best candidates in these races.”
LIBRE Initiative Action is a project of Americans for Prosperity, a Koch network group, and supports what it describes as “freedom-minded” policies that promote the “well-being and self-sufficiency” of the Hispanic community. LIBRE Initiative Action will invest in the candidates’ three districts, including spending money on mailers and digital ads, as well as sending organizers to engage Latino voters.
The CookPoliticalReport rates Bresnahan’s race against Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA) as a Democratic-leaning toss-up contest. Cartwright has represented majority-white and middle-class northeastern Pennsylvania in Congress since 2013, which was the 17th Congressional District before redistricting in 2018. Cartwright won reelection in 2022 by 2 percentage points, or 7,000 votes, but Republican politics is popular in the area, with former President Donald Trump taking it in 2016 and 2020.
Kiggans is a first-term incumbent seeking reelection in her heavily military Virginia district, though her Democratic rival, either Missy Cotter Smasal or Jake Denton, will not be decided until next month. Her district voted for President Joe Biden in 2020 and had a Democratic member of Congress, former Rep. Elaine Luria, until Kiggans flipped the seat in 2022.
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Schweikert’s race in northeastern Maricopa County is a Republican-leaning toss-up, but, again, the congressman, who has been in power since 2011, will not know his Democratic opponent, most likely either Marlene Galán-Woods, Amish Shah, or Conor O’Callaghan, until July. Like Kiggans, his district is another of the 18 that voted for Biden in 2020 but are currently held by the GOP.
About 36.2 million Latinos are eligible to vote this year, an increase from 32.3 million in 2020, and they make up roughly 15% of all eligible voters, according to the Pew Research Center.
