House Democrats target 2020 GOP incumbents in new ad

The House Democrats’ campaign arm is taking aim at Republican incumbents in four districts in new ads unveiled Tuesday. 

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) ads target Reps. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.), Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.),  all of whom are on the DCCC’s “retirement watch list,” according to a statement first obtained exclusively by The Hill. 

The four congressmen were added to the group’s list earlier this month. 

{mosads}”These ads serve to remind Congressmen Davis, Kinzinger, Zeldin, and Fitzpatrick of the better life so many of their colleagues are choosing, rather than return to life in the minority in Washington,” DCCC spokesman Cole Leiter said in a statement. 

The Cook Political Report rates Zeldin, Davis and Fitzpatrick’s districts as competitive districts that lean Republican. Kinzinger represents Illinois’s 16th Congressional District, which is not listed as a competitive race on the Cook Political Report.

News of the ads come as Democrats look to expand their majority in the House in 2020, while Republicans aim to take back the majority in the lower chamber despite a recent wave of retirements. 

A number of House Republicans have announced they will not seek reelection in 2020, including Reps. Will Hurd (R-Texas), Susan Brooks (R-Ind.) and Rob Woodall (R-Ga.). 

The retirements have sparked fear in GOP circles that party will be put on the defensive and that more exits could be on the horizon.