U.S. Representative Jamie Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, speaks with Lewis County Sheriff Rob Snaza following a roundtable discussion in Morton in April.
A liberal political organization has added Washington’s 3rd Congressional District to a lengthy list of seats targeted for takeover in the next general election.
That seat is currently held by Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, a fourth-term Republican from Battle Ground. She has won each of her re-election races by more than 20 points. Swing Left noted Herrera Beutler’s recent vote for the tax bill as a contributing factor to their decision to target her House seat.
In total, Swing Left, which describes itself as a national grassroots organization, has added five Congressional districts currently held by Republicans to their takeover map. All told, Swing Left now has 70 midterm elections in their crosshairs. The group noted that Democrats would have to pick up 24 seats in order to regain control of the House of Representatives.
“As this week’s election in Alabama demonstrated, the GOP has grown increasingly vulnerable in the past few months as Republican leaders have pushed historically unpopular policies and alienated voters by embracing fringe candidates,” read a press release from Swing Left.
The release quoted a Quinnipiac University poll from last week that gave Democrats a 14-point advantage on a generic House ballot. Swing Left noted that those sorts of numbers have historically indicated that there are Republican seats prime for the picking.
Swing Left says they have a roster of 300,000 volunteers who are working to support Democratic nominees across the country. The group has also raised $2 million in funds through donations from 40,000 independent donors and helps citizens locate the nearest swing district to their home address.
The new districts and Republican representatives targeted for replacement by Swing Left include:
Jaime Herrera Beutler, Washington’s 3rd
Mike Bishop, Michigan’s 8th
Frank LoBiondo, New Jersey’s 2nd
Rodney Frelinghuysen, New Jersey’s 11th
Tom Garrett, Virginia's 5th
Additional information on Swing Left can be found on their website at swingleft.org.
