NRSC Weekly Rundown: #SchumerSellout, T-SHIRT TIME, NRSC shutdown ads, pay raise all day and more!
And here’s this week’s edition of the NRSC Weekly Rundown:
#SchumerSellout: Fueled by an obsession to obstruct any and all Republican progress, Senate Democrats voted for the reckless Schumer Shutdown. But what did Senate Democrats get from shutting down the government? Not much besides the blame and this t-shirt the NRSC gave out to red state Dems and 2020 presidential hopefuls.
National: The NRSC launched auto-play Facebook ads against all 10 red state Democrats who either voted for the shutdown or were unwilling to end it. Seems as though the shutdown was particularly harmful to red state Democrats’ reelection chances.
The Eyes of Texas: Fresh off of torpedoing 2018 Democrats’ reelection chances with the Schumer Shutdown, Chuck Schumer will host a fundraiser in Houston tomorrow for Democrat Senate candidates Bill Nelson, Joe Donnelly, Beto O’Rourke and Jacky Rosen. But tying themselves to the architect of the shutdown failure will not go over well back home.
#TaxReform:
#MTSen: Jon Tester, representing a state President Trump carried by 20 points, voted against funding the government not once, but twice this week after calling a government shutdown “stupid talk.”
#FLSen: Bill Nelson voted for Schumer’s government shutdown and got major bad press for doing so. But his bad 2018 just keeps getting worse. Politico’s Florida Playbook even referred to his handling of the shutdown as a “swing-and-a-miss.” And thanks to the tax cut plan Nelson voted against, Walt Disney Co.announced employee pay raises and a $50 million investment towards helping hourly workers with tuition costs. Bill’s blunders continue…
#MOSen: It’s restaurant week here in D.C., so you should stop by Claire McCaskill’sswanky City Center restaurant for a $350 bottle of vino! This week, Raytown based Dynamic Fasteners announced $1,000 in employee bonuses, a big help for Missourians thanks to the GOP tax relief plan McCaskill voted against. Claire, the “daughter of rural Missouri,” is clearly more concerned with being a luxe restaurant owner than helping out folks at home.
#OHSen: Failed U.S. Senate candidate Jason Kander hit the campaign trail for Sherrod Brown this week. Kander has spent a lot of time advocating for the repeal of the GOP tax cuts. Does Brown agree?
#WVSen: “This place sucks.” You know what else sucks? Joe Manchin announcing his reelection campaign for the second time this cycle. Manchin’s first announcement was flanked by the controversy of naming a Mylan lobbyist as his campaign’s senior adviser.
#WISen: A growing list of Wisconsin banks have announced they are raising their minimum wage to $15. Tammy Baldwin has advocated for #RaiseTheWage, but evidently she’s only in favor of higher wages if liberals are the ones doling them out.
#NVSen: The Labor Department announced this week that Nevada saw the nation’s largest increase in jobs last year, making Jacky Rosen’s vote against the GOP tax relief plan even more ridiculous.
#TNSen: If Phil Bredesen is actually running for U.S. Senate, he certainly isn’t acting like it. Bredesen’s been silent on the historic GOP tax cuts and on Senator Schumer’s reckless decision to shut down the government.
NEWS AND NOTES:
The Hill: These Democrats will have a hard time keeping their seats in 2018
Despite conventional wisdom that 2018 will be a winner for Democrats, Republicans hope to defeat a number of Senate incumbents. I recently wrote that Democrats shouldn’t feel too confident about their chances in two states, with Sens. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) in trouble.
There are three more states where Republicans believe they can flip seats by beating incumbent Democrats. The most vulnerable of these is Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). READ
Washington Examiner: NRSC hands out ‘Schumer shutdown’ T-shirts to top Senate Democrats
The National Republican Senatorial Committee handed out “Schumer shutdown” T-shirts to top Democrats on Capitol Hill Tuesday as a token of remembrance “so they won’t forget what happens when they shut down the federal government for no reason.” READ
Washington Times: Sen. Cory Gardner: GOP has opportunity to gain seats in midterm races
“What we’ve seen over the past week is a significant change in the generic ballot, Republican vs. Democrat, and that’s all because of the popularity of what we’ve been able to accomplish in the last year, including the tax cuts,” the Colorado Republican said on “The Hugh Hewitt Show.” READ
Politico: Poll: 84 percent of voters call government shutdown ‘unnecessary’
Eighty-four percent deemed the shutdown mostly unnecessary while only 13 percent cast it as “mainly necessary,” the Quinnipiac University National poll found. The sentiment was prevalent across party lines, with 89 percent of Republicans and 78 percent of Democrats saying it was not needed. READ
WSJ: The Tax Law, Just One Month Old, Is Roaring Through U.S. Companies
Just weeks after the federal government adopted the biggest tax overhaul in three decades, the effects are rippling through corner offices and boardrooms, with companies large and small dusting off once-shelved plans, re-evaluating existing projects and exploring new investment in factories and equipment. READ
Lifezette: Shutdown Victory Shows GOP Can Win in Congress and in 2018 Elections
The Senate will be a tougher fight for Democrats, despite the narrow two-seat Republican majority there. The Democrats have to defend 26 of the 34 seats up for grabs, and some of those states (such as Florida, Indiana, and North Dakota) are states won by Trump. READ