Two endangered Republicans in Southern California have now been thrown to the wolves by their own party. The Republican Party’s top funding group for congressional races, the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), said it will spend no more money to support Orange County Republicans Dana Rohrabacher and Mimi Walters.
The role of the CLF is to gather and disperse large checks from the biggest donors in their party. They will be using that money to purchase $12 million on cable television ads in Southern California. But Rohrabacher and Walters will not be benefiting from these expenditures.
According to the Los Angeles Times, what seems like a lot of money does not go very far in the expensive media market where the two Republicans’ districts lie. The CLF and Republican candidates are facing a lot of competitive races and thus are struggling more than ever with how and where to spend its money. California Republicans representing suburban districts are especially at risk “because of the state’s exorbitant advertising costs.”
“Money saved in the costly Los Angeles media market can be spread over several contests in other states that may be considered more winnable,” the Times writes.
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A veteran Republican strategist, speaking anonymously, revealed that the ad cutbacks in California are evidence that the party is worried about keeping it majority in the House of Representatives. He pointed out that many spending decisions are made at the national level.
“When you’re these national committees and you’ve got problems in the suburbs of Dallas, Kansas City, Chicago, Philadelphia, you’ve got to start making decisions on where you can most effectively spend,” the anonymous source said.
“Republicans are taking a cold-blooded look at races to decide where to put resources and where to withdraw resources to put somewhere else,” said Stuart Rothenberg, an election analyst with decades of experience.
Thus they concluded that the threatened GOP candidates in suburban Orange County, California will not be receiving any more ad buys on their behalf.
Rohrabacher has gained a great deal of notoriety for his pro-Russian views and has been labeled “Putin’s favorite congressman.” If he loses reelection it will be a clear sign that American voters are tired of a Congress which is complicit with a hostile foreign power, and they want a new Congress that will protect American interests and hold the president accountable.
Last month we reported that the National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC) was abandoning many Republican candidates who are so far behind in the polls that the party has decided that they have no chance to win.
I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.
