10/2/2019 Moderate Democrats backing Donald Trump impeachment in GOP crosshairs - Washington Times

Moderate Democrats in GOP

crosshairs after tipping scales on
impeachment

Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., right, followed by Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., left, leave a House Democratic Caucus meeting with
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., where she was persuaded to launch a formal impeachment inquiry against President
Donald Trump, ... more >

By Gabriella Muñoz - The Washington Times - Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Rep. Elaine G. Luria had quietly supported her party’s priorities on gun
control, advocated for veterans’ rights and kept focused on her conservative
Norfolk, Virginia, district rather than seeking the national spotlight — and
then she jumped onto the impeachment train.

All eyes turned to the former Navy commander last week when she and six
other freshman Democrats with national security backgrounds came out in
support of an o cial impeachment inquiry targeting President Trump.

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10/2/2019 Moderate Democrats backing Donald Trump impeachment in GOP crosshairs - Washington Times

Ms. Luria and other moderates helped “tip the scales” on impeachment,
said Jennifer N. Victor, a politics professor at George Mason University.

“These were not like the liberal stalwarts. They were freshmen. They weren’t
just following party leadership or party lines,” she said. “Some of them come
from moderate districts. And so the fact that that group was coming out
very publicly and saying ‘Nope. We’ve changed our minds. This is really
serious now’ really began to turn the tide.”

It also put them in Republican crosshairs.

Ms. Luria and other moderate Democrats backing impeachment are feeling
the heat from conservative groups back home, complicating their reelection
bids and giving Republicans hope for winning back seats lost in 2018 and
retaking the House majority in 2020.

“Luria is now pushing a radical scheme to impeach President Trump,

dividing the country, tearing us apart — because she doesn’t like the
president,” said an ad from the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC
dedicated to winning a Republican House majority.

The group released similar ads targeting Democratic Reps. Elissa Slotkin of
Michigan and Matt Cartwright of Pennsylvania. The ads tied the three
moderate lawmakers to well-known liberal Democrats such as Sen. Bernard
Sanders, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Rashida Tlaib of
Michigan.

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10/2/2019 Moderate Democrats backing Donald Trump impeachment in GOP crosshairs - Washington Times

The super PAC accused Rep. Abigail Davis Spanberger, Virginia Democrat, of
backtracking. It cited an article in which she explained that her party needed
to walk a ne line between investigating and rushing toward impeachment.

“Democrats in Congress have made it clear that the left’s crazed drive to
remove Trump from o ce is far more important to them than improving
the lives of their constituents,” Congressional Leadership Fund President
Dan Conston said in a statement.

The impeachment inquiry stems from a whistleblower complaint that Mr.

Trump pressured Ukraine’s president to investigate corruption involving
2020 Democratic presidential front-runner Joseph R. Biden and his son
Hunter.

Democrats accuse Mr. Trump of using Oval O ce power for his personal
bene t. The White House says the request was for a legitimate
investigation.

House Democrats, particularly those in vulnerable districts, should expect

Republicans to keep hammering them on the issue.

“Impeachment shouldn’t be something that’s thrown around as a political

chip like the Democrats are doing,” Chris Pack, communications director for
the National Republican Congressional Committee, told The Washington
Times. “It’s de nitely going to cost them their majority in 2020.”

The Republican campaign attacks not only zero in on Democrats’

“obsession” with impeachment but also on how it holds up their legislative
agenda, he said.

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10/2/2019 Moderate Democrats backing Donald Trump impeachment in GOP crosshairs - Washington Times

Mr. Pack expects the impeachment message to be e ective in the 55

districts where the NRCC has put its focus, 31 of which Mr. Trump won in
2016.

Republicans have started digital campaigns in 16 competitive districts

targeting lawmakers such as Ms. Slotkin, Mr. Cartwright, Ms. Spanberger
and Ms. Luria.

“A lot of these freshman Democrats, especially in the Trump districts that

Trump won, they ran almost as moderate Republicans,” Mr. Pack said. “Now
we’re seeing that was a bunch of empty rhetoric.

“Now you’re seeing this hatred of President Trump … applies to a large

majority of their conference,” he added.

Republican political consultant Karl Rove said the impeachment rush came
with big risks for Democrats.

“In the short run, they are going to be on a sugar high and they are going to
feel good about themselves,” he said on Fox News’ “Hannity” program. “But I
don’t think it’s an accident that of the 19 Democrats who won seats in 2018
in districts that Donald Trump carried by 4 points or more, 10 of them have
not yet endorsed the inquiry.

“If they lose 17 or 18 seats, they could lose control of the House by the time
of the 2020 election,” he said.

Despite the competitive race ahead of her, Ms. Luria said she has no regrets
about her decision.

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10/2/2019 Moderate Democrats backing Donald Trump impeachment in GOP crosshairs - Washington Times

“The voters in my district sent me here to do what is right. … I think I’m paid
to be a member of Congress and make hard decisions,” she told reporters
last week. “If it has consequences in the future, so be it.”

Ms. Luria announced she would hold a town hall Thursday evening and
extended an invitation on Twitter to Scott Taylor, the Republican whose seat
she now holds, after he said she owes her constituents an explanation.

Ms. Slotkin said the party needs to have a clear, cohesive communication
plan in order to sway public opinion.

“I think if we have a good strategic plan, then the folks who are focused on
impeachment will move out and the folks who are supposed to be focused
on everything else — a transportation bill, prescription drug legislation —
they will work just as hard at that legislation and pushing that forward as
the folks who are focused on impeachment,” she told reporters last week.

“It is our job to do the best we possibly can on both oversight and
a rmative legislation,” she added.

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