The Senate Democrats’ campaign arm is pressuring Republican lawmakers to say if they will sit down with Donald Trump, who will meet with House GOP leadership later this week.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) is targeting GOP Senate candidates and incumbents in nearly a dozen races as part of a strategy to link the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee to down-ballot candidates.
{mosads}“Ron Johnson is trying to make a big deal about meeting with Judge Merrick Garland this week, even though he stuck with the GOP’s obstructionist playbook and refused to consider his nomination to the Supreme Court,” said Lauren Passalacqua, DSCC spokesperson. “Will he afford the same courtesy to Donald Trump, the man he’s agreed to support for president of the United States?”
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported last Friday that Johnson is expected to meet with President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee this week.
Brian Reisinger, a spokesman for Johnson’s campaign, said last week that while the Wisconsin Republican will support the eventual presidential nominee, “he’s focused on the concerns of Wisconsinites — not national political winds.”
The DSCC is sending out similar releases targeting GOP Sens. Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), Roy Blunt (Mo.), Richard Burr (N.C.), Chuck Grassley (Iowa), Mark Kirk (Ill.), John McCain (Ariz.), Rob Portman (Ohio) and Pat Toomey (Pa.).
They’re also targeting GOP Reps. Todd Young, who’s running for Senate in Indiana, and Ron DeSantis and David Jolly, who are battling one another for the party’s nomination in Florida.
Democrats have raced to link vulnerable incumbents to Trump since he won the Indiana primary last week and locked down his status as the GOP’s presumptive nominee. They argue the brash billionaire will drag down Republican candidates, particularly in swing states where they’ll need to win over independent voters and moderates.
Democrats need to net four Senate seats to win back control of the upper chamber if they also retain the White House, and five seats to win it back outright.
Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters late last week that he expects Democrats to be competitive in Florida, Missouri and Arizona in addition to states previously carried by Obama.