ICYMI: Republicans shatter records for candidate filings ahead of midterm elections
The Washington Examiner reports a record number of Republican candidates are running for Congress this year, shattering previous records and “far surpassing” Democrat recruitment rates.
NRCC Chairman Tom Emmer notes that for the midterms Republicans have not only broken the record for the number of candidates overall but Republicans also have a record number of women, minorities, and veterans running.
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Republicans Shatter Records For Candidate Filings Ahead Of Midterm Elections
The Washington Examiner
By Marisa Schultz
July 13, 2022
Republicans shattered records for the number of candidates running for Congress this year, far surpassing Democrats’ roster heading into the 2022 midterm elections, in another indication of the grassroots energy building for a red wave this November.
At least 1,277 Republicans filed federal paperwork for House and Senate seats, accounting for 55% of the 2,317 candidates running for Congress. Democratic candidates make up just 41% of the lineup, while the rest are from third parties, according to Federal Election Commission data through the first quarter of this year.
The number of candidates willing to step up, campaign, and raise money for Congress can offer an early window into election enthusiasm.
While not a scientific predictor, there’s been a relationship between lopsided candidate filings and subsequent wave elections in 2018, 2010, and 2006. The previous first-quarter record was set in 2018, with 2,182 candidates running for the House and Senate fueled by a passionate resistance movement against then-President Donald Trump. The Democrats had the upper hand, with 1,221 candidates, or 56% of the roster, as they led a blue sweep of the House.
Now, the candidate dominance belongs to Republicans.
“We’re going to win the majority,” Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, told the Washington Examiner. “That’s what I’m projecting.”
Emmer said his midterm lineup not only breaks the record for the number of Republican candidates overall but also for the number of GOP women, minorities, and veterans running.
With Democrats’ slim majorities in Congress, Republicans need a net gain of one Senate seat to win control of the upper chamber and just four seats in the House after Mayra Flores won a special election in a blue South Texas seat in June.
Cassy Garcia, 40, wants to build off of Flores’s momentum. She faces incumbent Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar, the lone anti-abortion Democrat in Congress, in November. Garcia said she’s seeing a shift toward the GOP because lax border security is having a “catastrophic” impact on South Texas communities.
“The Democrat Party has walked away from the Hispanic community,” said Garcia, a first-time candidate and former state director to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). “And the reason why I’m running for Congress is to defend faith, family, and freedom. There’s such an energy down here in South Texas.”
“Come this November, we’re going to see more Democrats walk away from the party and vote Republican,” said Garcia, whose fiance is a Border Patrol agent. “The same red wave that took Mayra Flores to Congress … is going to take me to Congress, and it’s that same red wave that will send Nancy Pelosi packing in November.”
In certain districts, the numbers are bolstered by long lists of GOP candidates battling it out in heated primaries. The field will be whittled down to a lineup of about 470 House and Senate candidates who will face off against Democrats in November.
The NRCC is targeting 75 Democratic-held House districts for pickup opportunities as President Joe Biden’s approval numbers continue to sink.
“We are definitely playing in Biden territory,” Emmer said.
Former Connecticut state Sen. George Logan, who is challenging incumbent Rep. Jahana Hayes in adistrict that Biden won decisively in 2020, said the Republican Party has improved its outreach to minority communities and fielded a much more diverse set of candidates this cycle. The Republican National Committee, for example, opened a community center in New Britain where Logan helped organize a diaper and baby formula drive for families in need of help.
“We are here to solve problems, not just complain about them,” Logan, 53, said of the Republican Party’s outreach.
The son of Guatemalan immigrants with Jamaican roots, Logan is bilingual, which helps with campaigning in the sizable Hispanic portion of his district. “We share a lot of the same story,” Logan said. He keeps his day job working in community outreach for the local water company, and he’s the frontman for a Jimi Hendrix tribute band. He sees the ground shifting toward the GOP as families endure record inflation and gas prices.
“People of color, women — Republicans are getting more involved. It’s very exciting to see,” Logan told the Washington Examiner. “The Republican Party at the national level is making the effort to reach out.”
Democrats have long since had the advantage with women and minority representation in Congress and still hold a sizable lead. As of July 6, 151 women serve in the House, and 92 of them are Democrats. In the Senate, there are 24 women — 16 of them are Democrats.
Democrats dismissed the GOP surge as a result of crowded primary elections marred by Republican infighting and the inability to coalesce around one candidate.
“Congratulations to House Republicans on fielding a record number of insurrectionists and anti-choice extremists for office,” Helen Kalla, deputy communications director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said.
“More does not necessarily mean better — and Republicans are stuck with a clown car of unelectable and extreme House candidates like J.R. Majewski, Sandy Smith, and Yesli Vega, whose toxic agendas will send battleground district voters sprinting in the other direction,” Kalla added, referencing to candidates in Ohio, North Carolina, and Virginia, respectively.
Federal figures show that Republicans have the fundraising advantage this cycle too. House and Senate candidates raised more than $1.8 billion for their midterm elections through the first quarter — the most ever recorded to date. Democratic Senate and House candidates netted $895.5 million of that haul, compared to $921 million for Republicans.
First-time congressional candidates interviewed by the Washington Examiner say they’ve received crucial support from the Republican Party and its allies in organizing and financing their campaigns, as well as personal encouragement from members, including Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who has mentored many of the female candidates.
Tanya Contreras Wheeless, a former Phoenix Suns executive and past CEO of the Arizona Bankers Association, said a Wall Street Journal article about the record number of GOP women House candidates in 2020 was her “first spark” in considering public office. She discussed the idea with her husband, who encouraged her to “swing the bat” and run.
Wheeless, the granddaughter of Mexican immigrants, is running in the crowded GOP 4th Congressional District primary on Aug. 2 in a bid to unseat incumbent Democratic Rep. Greg Stanton.
The Maricopa County-based seat became more favorable to Republicans after redistricting, and Wheeless, 45, says the district is ready for a GOP flip, with voters frustrated by lax border security and inflation.
“Right now, people are feeling vulnerable,” Wheeless, who served as deputy chief of staff to former Arizona GOP Sen. Martha McSally, told the Washington Examiner.
“We don’t like watching our neighbors struggle. We don’t like seeing the cost of gas skyrocket. And I think everyone’s looking in the mirror and saying, ‘What can I do in this moment?’ And for a lot of people, that’s getting engaged at a grassroots level. For others, it may be giving to candidates or knocking doors. In my case, it was deciding to run for office.”