ObamaCare is “poison” to Democratic candidates in the midterm elections, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said Sunday.
The RNC chairman said Rep. David Jolly’s (R) win in Florida’s special congressional election last week against Democrat Alex Sink was proof of that.
{mosads}“ObamaCare is complete poison out there in the field,” Priebus said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“So the lesson is going to be: No. 1 you have to hit your main target, which is ObamaCare, but secondly David Jolly gave a positive vision,” Priebus added. “He talked about tax reform, he talked about issues affecting a lot of seniors around the district.”
Priebus also credited the cooperation between the RNC and the state party. He said a new effort to sync data with the field organization in the district was successful as well.
Priebus also defended Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) after the congressman said he made “inarticulate” comments when talking about inner-city poverty last week.
Priebus said “Democrats are lying in wait to pounce” on Republican comments. He compared Ryan’s “inarticulate” statement to past comments by Vice President Biden.
Ryan has dedicated a big chunk of his life to tackling poverty and creating opportunity in urban areas, Priebus said.
“I would say Republicans like Paul Ryan, Rand Paul, who are talking about this very issue is what is important to our party,” he said.
“We have got this tailspin of culture in our inner cities, in particular, of men not working and just generations of men not even thinking about working or learning the value and the culture of work so there’s a cultural problem that has to be dealt with,” Ryan said.
Ryan agreed to meet with members of the Congressional Black Caucus after some Democrats described his words as a veiled racial attack.