In the lead-up to the 2024 election, House Republicans are turning their attention to New York State, hoping to build on last November’s midterm successes to transform the traditionally Democrat state into a House battleground state, the Washington Examiner reported.
House GOP conference chair Elise Stefanik of New York last week launched a battleground fund to boost New York Republican congressional candidates as part of the House GOP’s effort to build on its slim majority.
According to Stefanik, the battleground fund is just the first step in the Republican leadership’s plans to pour resources into New York to hold the gains they made in 2022. Stefanik told the Examiner that the fund is “one of many entities” that will be “investing in these critical seats.”
During the 2022 Midterm elections, Republicans flipped four New York congressional seats, accounting for a third of the GOP’s midterm gains.
Of the four seats, now held by Republican Congressmen Anthony D’Esposito, Mike Lawler, Marc Molinaro, and George Santos, three are considered “toss-up” seats while Santos’ district is predicted to lean Democrat, according to Cook Politico Report.
Stefanik expressed confidence that Republicans can defend all four of the recently flipped seats and could even expand their advantage in New York, by primarily targeting congressional seats in the Hudson Valley. She told the Examiner that the new Battleground Fund will enable the House GOP to bolster get-out-the-vote efforts while appealing to all voters, including Independents and Democrats in New York.
Stefanik said the goal is to attack Democrats as being too extreme for moderate voters. She told the Examiner that this was the playbook used in 2022 in New York, primarily focusing on the state’s violent crime.
Since members of the House serve only two years in office, all 435 House seats are up for reelection in 2024. Of those, 42 seats are considered competitive, and most of those are currently held by Democrats, giving the Republicans a slight advantage in 2024.
However, 18 of the competitive seats currently held by the GOP are from districts that voted for Joe Biden in 2020. Only 5 of the competitive seats held by Democrats are in districts won by former President Donald Trump.
