Just one year before the 2024 election, House Republicans are releasing their game plan to expand their majority in the lower chamber, predicting they will have a “stronger” position than they did in the 2022 midterm elections in which the party gained a four-seat majority.
The National Republican Congressional Committee released a memo on Monday outlining four key areas Republicans are expected to lean on during the 2024 cycle, including the party’s strong fundraising numbers, candidate recruitment, and messaging on key campaign issues. The memo also highlights what House Republicans consider to be weaknesses for their Democratic counterparts, including key races in which Democrats have yet to recruit candidates.
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“While Republicans lost ground in Senate and Governors’ races last cycle, House Republicans broke the trend, picking up seats and taking the majority by winning in blue districts from coast to coast,” the memo states. “With one year until Election Day 2024, House Republicans are arguably in just as strong, if not stronger, position to grow our majority.”
The memo touts the NRCC’s fundraising prowess over the last year as the group has focused much of its attention on targeted Republicans in districts that were won by President Joe Biden in 2020. The NRCC unveiled a new strategy earlier this year that has encouraged “member-to-member giving,” according to the memo, allowing candidates with lower advertising rates to be more competitive against their Democratic opponents.
“The results are remarkable,” the memo states, pointing to fundraising numbers that show targeted Republicans have consistently outraised targeted Democrats in all three fundraising quarters so far this year.
Targeted Republicans hold an average of $1.8 million cash on hand compared to targeted Democrats with $1.3 million. In the third quarter, vulnerable GOP lawmakers raised an average of $164,512 more than their Democratic counterparts, according to the memo.
“Money builds majorities and endangered House Republicans are in a strong position to hold their seats,” the memo states.
The NRCC is also touting its candidate recruitment ability, highlighting a number of candidates who are running in competitive districts won by Biden in 2020 that they believe can be flipped in 2024.
“In the last Presidential election, all 15 Congressional seats flipped from blue to red were won by a female, minority, or veteran candidate,” the memo states. “Strong candidates with compelling backgrounds that match the life stories and experiences of voters are able to compete to win in tough districts where top-of-the-ticket Democrats will be presumed to be victorious.”
Alternatively, the memo hits out against Democrats’ recruitment in competitive districts, highlighting a number of Democratic primaries that could result in “brutal intraparty” fights.
The memo highlights a number of key campaign issues that are expected to become the foundation of the GOP platform in 2024 such as inflation, crime, and immigration at the southern border. Republicans will specifically hit vulnerable Democrats on their voting record on those three issues, tying lawmakers to Biden’s policies as they seek to oust the first-term incumbent.
“Skyrocketing inflation from reckless liberal spending bills, a nationwide crime wave and an unsecured border lends itself to a historically positive political environment for Republicans,” the memo states. “Combine that with a Democrat President that Americans believe to be too old and feeble to lead, House Republicans will grow their majority.”
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All 435 seats are up for grabs in 2024 as Republicans seek to hold their slim majority in the lower chamber. Of these, 42 are considered competitive, with most of those held by Democrats, giving the GOP a slight advantage as it prepares for the next election cycle.
However, of the 42 competitive seats, 18 are held by Republicans in districts that voted for Biden in 2020, compared to just five Democrats who must defend their seats in districts carried by former President Donald Trump. That means there are just enough vulnerable GOP-held seats to keep things competitive heading into the next election cycle.