Today, the DCCC sent out a memo urging Democrats to remain focused with less than 50 days until the most consequential election of our lifetimes. The memo laid out a winning strategy focusing on anti-corruption and voting out corrupt Republicans across the country embroiled in scandals.
The DCCC is making corruption a top issue of the 2020 cycle to highlight how Republican candidates are prioritizing corporate special interests over their constituents.
Below is the full memo from DCCC Chairwoman Cheri Bustos and DCCC Executive Director Lucinda Guinn:
With fewer than 50 days until the most consequential election of our lifetimes, ballots have already been mailed in multiple states and Democrats are well-positioned to expand our majority in the House of Representatives. Strong incumbents hold steady leads in districts President Trump carried in 2016 and impressive Democratic recruits are outraising, out communicating, and in some cases outright leading Republican incumbents in red districts. On top of that, the DCCC holds $104.7 million on hand, $30 million more than the DCCC held at this point in 2018.
With our resource advantage and laser focus on protecting Americans’ safety and health care during a deadly pandemic, rooting out corruption, and rebuilding our battered economy by investing in small businesses and American manufacturing, Democrats are on offense across the country, from Alaska to Long Island to Texas.
ALL EYES on Health Care, REBUILDING OUR ECONOMY, Fighting Corruption
From the beginning of this election cycle House Democrats have made no secret that we are making this election about health care: lower premiums, more affordable prescriptions, and safeguarding Medicare for our seniors. That focus can be seen in our first national ad buy in January 2020, continued when we stated unequivocally in May that health care was on the ballot, and can now be seen across the battlefield in ads from the DCCC IE, like these in NE-02, MO-02, and SC-01.
Health care was the key to Democrats’ 40 House pickups in 2018 and following Republicans’ disastrous and deadly failed response to the COVID-19 outbreak, 2020’s focus on health care has only grown in scope and importance.
But for voters, COVID-19 isn’t just a question of health care, it’s a question of threatened job security and economic disruption. That’s why Democrats are communicating our work to secure an economic lifeline for people who have lost their jobs, loans to small businesses struggling during this crisis, and the plans we have laid out to rebuild the economy by reinvesting in local businesses and American manufacturing. That focus can be seen in candidate ads from across the battlefield, like these in NJ-03, OK-05, and CA-39.
To top it off, recent Republican corruption scandals have provided another contrast for Democrats’ well-financed campaigns to strike, keeping Republicans on defense across the map in districts they cannot afford to lose. The impact of those scandals can be seen in ads from across the battlefield, like these in VA-02, OH-01, and CA-48.
Democrats’ focus on making health care more affordable and combatting COVID-19, fighting for workers and small businesses and cleaning up Washington is a stark contrast with yet another cycle of Republicans running on fear and division. As the New York Times reported, their 2020 playbook is a return to their failed “2018 strategy, hoping for a better result.” While there is no excuse for running hundreds of millions of dollars in ads designed to scare voters, there is a reasonable explanation: Washington Republicans’ other option is to embrace their record of failure that has cost 200,000 Americans their lives.
Investing to Win During a Once-In-A-Century Pandemic
For millions of voters, this historic election will be the first time they cast their ballots by mail. To ensure those voters know how, the DCCC is spending over $9 million in competitive districts across the country to educate voters. This voter education work will be done across digital mediums, mail, text message, and direct voter contact and is informed by the DCCC’s research throughout 2020 on how to encourage key communities to recognize their full slate of voting options: by mail, early, or on Election Day. This focus is also reflected in the DCCC’s over $10 million national litigation strategy that has increasingly focused in on access to mail in voting during the COVID-19 pandemic.
COVID-19 has presented new challenges for Democratic campaigns, but House candidates have adapted quickly to the new paradigm – transitioning field operations online and continuing our organizing work from a safe distance. To support that safe organizing work, the DCCC launched the Virtual Action Center in May 2020 to channel the enthusiasm of voters stuck at home during the pandemic. Since the Virtual Action Center’s launch, the DCCC has signed up over 164,330 volunteers across platforms, held more than 3,850 events, and made over 22 million voter contact attempts, reaching nearly 4 million voters via text message alone. Our virtual organizing during COVID-19 is only possible because of the DCCC’s investment in on the ground field organizing in early 2019, an investment that has continued to grow throughout 2020.
Organizing Communities of Color and Young People
House Democrats know that our pathway to victory means turning out the base of our Democratic coalition and bringing new voices into the fold. Reflecting that imperative, the DCCC expanded on 2018’s successful Year of Engagement and launched a full Cycle of Engagement in early 2019. Through the Cycle of Engagement, the DCCC has put field organizers on the ground across the country and in key AAPI, Native, Black, and Latino communities, conducted extensive research, and begun the bulk of our paid communication to communities of color and young people.
We aired our first Vietnamese-language IE TV ads on VietFace in Orange County and ran our first Chinese-language and Hindi-language ads online, targeting quickly growing AAPI communities in TX-22. Similarly, the DCCC IE is already running Spanish-language TV ads in multiple districts and TV ads serving Black voters in South Carolina’s Lowcountry, with more to come in districts across the country.
This is just a small snapshot of the work the DCCC is doing to communicate directly with communities of color and young people, and with seven weeks to go before election day, the DCCC has already spent more than $30 million through our Cycle of Engagement. That is a testament to how central communities of color are in our Democratic coalition. Our investments in outreach to these critical communities will only continue to grow in the coming weeks.
Democrats’ Battlefield in Action
In early 2019, the DCCC placed a full DCCC regional team and office on the ground in Austin after identifying 6 targets in Texas in addition to our 2 Frontline districts in the state. Since then 3 of our targets have retired rather than lose re-election and we have added 4 more targeted districts in Texas to the battlefield.
Texas is both the core of our offensive strategy and emblematic of the suburban shifts that the DCCC identified early and acted on in our work to build an initial offensive target list of 33 districts, into a full battlefield with 51 targets and 42 Frontline Members, 93 districts wide. In our offensive battlefield, the DCCC’s 34 Red to Blue candidates are a testament to one of our guiding principles: candidates matter.
28 of our 34 Red to Blue candidates are women, 13 identify as people of color, and our Red to Blue list includes more Black women than white men.
Our Red to Blue candidates are doctors, veterans, businesspeople, farmers, teachers, public health experts, school board members, immigrants, advocates, and parents. They are formidable: In Q2, 23 of those 34 candidates outraised their Republican opponent.
Protecting the Vote
The DCCC has invested over $10 million throughout this election cycle in our work to protect voters’ ability to register to vote, easily cast their ballot, and have confidence that ballot will be counted.
These legal challenges will continue down to the wire, but we have already won major victories in key states in the House battlefield.
Critically, as vote by mail (VBM) becomes an even more important method of safely casting a ballot, the DCCC is already engaged in litigation to protect vote by mail access from Republican attacks in nine states. Given the all-out assault on VBM from the Trump campaign and Republicans, we expect to join more lawsuits on this front in the coming weeks.
Democrats In A Strong Position Because We Take Nothing for Granted
Democrats have worked hard for two years to position ourselves for this moment. Our Frontline Members shattered fundraising norms and built massive war chests that they are now spending to communicate their unique brands, and our strong recruits are defining the terms of debate in districts that President Trump carried, often by double digits. House Democrats have a historic opportunity to yet again expand our majority. But let’s be clear – with just under 50 days remaining, and Donald Trump on the ballot, Democrats remember our history and are taking nothing for granted. During an unprecedented political environment and facing economic and public health crises, we know exactly what’s at stake in this election.
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