House GOP super PAC expands field offices to 27 districts

The Congressional Leadership Fund, a top GOP outside group, is opening more field offices in competitive House districts in order to protect the party’s House majority.

The super PAC, which has ties to House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), now has 27 offices in congressional districts held by Republicans across the country. There, staffers and volunteers are mounting a long-term effort meant to shore up the party’s foothold in the districts and identify the best ways to ensure voters back Republican incumbents in the 2018 midterm elections.

In a statement announcing the move, executive director Corry Bliss said that his staff is “laser-focused on having long-term, ongoing conversations with voters far ahead of Election Day.”

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“CLF is taking nothing for granted as we focus on our mission to maintain the House Republican majority. We have rejected the traditional model of super PACs and are doing things differently by operating a national, data-driven field program,” he said.

“Our efforts are tailored to individual congressional districts across the country, and by starting this program in the beginning of 2017, CLF’s early investment has already resulted in over five million voter contacts. This targeted, data-driven field operation will be a key asset to protecting and strengthening the majority in this year’s 2018 midterm elections.”

The new offices, which have reportedly already made more than 5 million voter contacts since last year, hope to boost Republicans facing a handful of situations in the midterms.

Reps. Mimi Walters (R-Calif), Mike Coffman (R-Colo.), Peter Roskam (R-Ill.), John Culberson (R-Texas) and Will Hurd (Texas) all sit in districts won by 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.), who easily won reelection in a district carried by Trump in 2016, is watching a competitive Democratic primary in his district between Lexington Mayor Jim Gray and Marine Corps veteran Amy McGrath.

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rogers (R-Wash.), the fourth-ranking Republican in House leadership, is being targeted by Democrats hoping to spoil her reelection.

Rep. Scott Taylor (R-Va.) saw foreboding signs during Virginia’s 2017 gubernatorial election, where Democrat Ralph Northam narrowly won his district, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.

Rep. Llyod Smucker’s (R) Pennsylvania district includes portions of the Philadelphia suburbs that turned out big for Democrats during the 2017 elections.

Rep. Mike Bishop (R-Mich.) has had his district targeted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and could face a tough challenge from Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat running in the primary who served as an acting assistant secretary of Defense during the Obama administration.