National Republicans plan to throw a counterpunch in Washington’s 5th Congressional District, which has become a midterm bull’s-eye for energized Democrats.
The Congressional Leadership Fund, a political action committee able to raise unlimited cash and backed by House Speaker Rep. Paul Ryan, announced this week it would open a field office in Eastern Washington. The office, one of 27 the organization has launched since the beginning of last year, will support Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, whose seat is the only one in Washington currently receiving support from the group. The move makes her the most high-profile GOP member to date to attract the Washington, D.C.-based committee’s attention.
“Democrats have made very clear that they are targeting Cathy McMorris Rodgers,” said Courtney Alexander, communications director for the political action committee. “The Congressional Leadership Fund is committed to maintaining and strengthening the House Republican majority.”
The organization has opened five offices in California, three in Pennsylvania and two each in Florida, Illinois, New Jersey and New York, all targeting what they call “key districts” in the race to maintain the GOP’s current 46-vote advantage in the House of Representatives and two-vote margin in the U.S. Senate. The fund has pledged to spend $100 million in this election cycle to support those efforts.
