GOP Cuts Off Sixth House Incumbent, Continuing Suburban Triage

UNITED STATES - JULY 25: House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee chairman Rep. Kevin Yoder, R-Kan., is seen during a House Appropriations Committee markup of the FY 2019 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill in Rayburn Building on July 25, 2018. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
UNITED STATES - JULY 25: House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee chairman Rep. Kevin Yoder, R-Kan., is seen during a House Appropriations Committee markup of the FY 2019 Homeland Security Appropriations B... UNITED STATES - JULY 25: House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee chairman Rep. Kevin Yoder, R-Kan., is seen during a House Appropriations Committee markup of the FY 2019 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill in Rayburn Building on July 25, 2018. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call) MORE LESS
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The National Republican Congressional Committee has canceled its TV reservations for Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-KS), making him the sixth House incumbent that either the group or its closely aligned super-PAC are leaving for dead heading into the campaign’s final month.

The NRCC canceled the ads in recent days, GOP sources confirm, walking away from Yoder in a suburban Kansas City district that President Trump lost by 1 point in 2016. Yoder is facing attorney and former mixed martial arts fighter Sharice Davids in the seat. If she wins, which now looks likely, she’ll become the first Native American woman and only the second openly gay woman ever to be elected to Congress.

He joins Reps. Mike Coffman (R-CO), Mike Bishop (R-MI), Barbara Comstock (R-VA), Rod Blum (R-IA) and Keith Rothfus (R-PA) as incumbents that either the NRCC or the Congressional Leadership Fund, the GOP’s main super-PAC, have been forced to give up on to save their money for more winnable districts.

These half-dozen members, paired with more than a half-dozen open that Republicans aren’t seriously spending in, give Democrats roughly half the seats they need for the House majority this fall.

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  1. Avatar for smiley smiley says:

    So thrilled to hear about Rep. Bishop in Michigan. We’re going to change our delegation from 9-4 GOP to 7-7. And just as importantly, we’re going to end gerrymandering in Michigan via ballot measure in November. Here’s my crazy district:

    As a result, she won 78% and 79% of the vote in the last two elections, ensuring that tons of Democratic voters wouldn’t count in other districts. That’ll change after November.

  2. Oh that they eliminate former local talk radio jock Jason Lewis in Minnesota! He’s a one-termer by only a 1% margin. 5-termer Erik Paulson is as good as toast. His campaign committee has been running only negative ads in a district HRC won handily. Add 2 to the flipped seats tally.

  3. A Trump-affiliated super-PAC is running ads for Bishop, so the loss of NRCC money may not be critical>

    Interesting about Comstock. Several heavy hitters had been scheduled to campaign for her–Kevin McCarthy, Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan. Have they backed out as well?

  4. Avatar for tsp tsp says:

    Yoder is facing attorney and former mixed martial arts fighter Sharice Davids in the seat. If she wins, which now looks likely, she’ll become the first Native American woman and only the second openly gay woman ever to be elected to Congress.

    This is the true face of Kansas. Following the footsteps of Charles Curtis, formerly the 1st Native American elected to the US Senate, and the only Native American elected as VP of the United States. Shining Kansas bright!

  5. Comstock is a curse word to me. One of Ken Starr’s minions in the anti-Clinton, Kavanaugh-employing vast right-wing conspiracy. That she finally was rewarded with a Congressional nomination and then election is a mark of how corrupt the GOP was well before Trump. Kavanaugh’s proposed elevation continues the pattern.

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