Trump's Decision To Play Politics With Disaster Relief, Is Going To Hurt Republicans Downballot

Trump Ordered MAGA Mike To Slow Walk Aid To Hurricane Victims

While Kamala has been successfully tying Señor T  to the highly unpopular Project 2025 blueprint for a fascist America, the DCCC is seeking to tar congressional Republicans and GOP candidates with it as well. They now have billboards up in 26 districts, seeking to help most of their Red to Blue candidates:

• Shomari Figures, the cryptocurrency candidate in AL-02

• Amish Shah, a former Republicans running against current Republican Davis Schweikert in AZ-01

• Kirsten Engel who’s running against Juan Ciscomani (AZ-06)

• Adam Gray, the corrupt conservative running against John Duarte (CA-13)

• Rudy Salas, the even more corrupt conservative running against David Valadao (CA-22)

• George Whitesides, this year’s opponent for Mike Garcia (NY-22)

• Will Rollins, the Blue Dog taking on Ken Calvert (CA-41)

• Derek Tran, Michelle Steel’s opponent in Orange County (CA-45)

• Dave Min, running against Scott Baugh for Katie Porter’s open seat in the OC (CA-47)

• Christina Bohanan, IA-01 opponent to Marionnette Miller Meeks again

• Lanon Baccam, Blue Dog running against Zach Nunn in Des Moines (IA-03)

• April Delaney, very conservative wife of nightmare ex-Rep John Delaney in open-seat MD-06

• Curtis Hertel, New Dem candidate for MI-07 open seat

• Kristen Rivet, New Dem candidate for MI-08 open seat

• Carl Marlinga, trying against against John James (MI-10)

• Tony Vargas, the Don Bacon opponent in Omaha

• Sue Altman, the one DCCC progressive (NJ-07, against Tom Kean Jr)

• Laura Gillen, the Nassau County. New Dem running against scandal-mired Anthony D'Esposito (NY-04)

• Mondaire Jones, former progressive,pro-genocide Dem running against Mike Lawler (NY-17)

• JoshRiley, NY-19 opponent to Marc Molinaro 

• John Mannion, very conservative opponent to Brandon Williams (NY-22)

• Janelle Bynum, the DCCC opponent for Lori Chavez-DeRemer (OR-05)

• Ashley Ehasz, who’s running against Brian Fitzpatrick in Bucks County (PA-01)

• Janelle Stelson, who’s taking on Freedom Caucus insurrectionist Scott Perry (PA-10) 

• Michelle Vallejo, who’s running for the South Texas 15th district seat held by Monica De La Cruz

• Missy Smasal, who’s running against Jen Kiggans (VA-02)

• Rebecca Cooke, Blue Dog opponent to MAGA crackpot  Derrick Van Orden (WI-03)

So who got left out? At least so far, there are no billboards for DCCC Red to Blue long-shot candidates:

• CO-03 Adam Frisch (open seat)

• FL-13 Whitney Fox vs Anna Paulina Luna

• MT-01 Monica Tranel vs Ryan Zinke

• NY-01 John Avlon vs Nick LaLota

• VA-07 Eugene Vindman (open seat)

• WI-01 Peter Barca vs Bryan Steil

I don’t know how much the billboards are going to help these candidates but I noticed yesterday that PunchBowl’s Canvass polling of top Capitol Hill staffers found that Kamala and Tim have coattails while Senor T ands weirdo running mate will act as an albatross around the necks of congressional Republicans and NRCC candidates. Samantha Bell reported that “Nearly all (96%) senior staffers think the Harris-Walz presidential ticket will help Democrats in other races. The Harris-Walz campaign has given nearly $25 million to support the Democrats down ballot, breaking the record for the largest fund transfer ever. Republican senior staffers thought quite the opposite about their party’s ticket. Almost half of GOP respondents (46%) think Trump and VP nominee Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) will harm Republicans down the ballot... Most (77%) of the respondents say the Democratic Party has more momentum than the GOP as Election Day draws nearer. Interestingly, 55% of Republican senior staffers who responded to the survey agreed.”

The news all around from that tiny elite subset was excellent for Democrats. 72% see Kamala winning next month, with just 28% seeing Trump as the winner. Even among Republican staffers just 54% say they think Trump will win. As for the swing states:

• Wisconsin- 85% said Kamala would take it

• Michigan- 81% predict a Kamala win

• Nevada- 77% see it going to Team Blue

• Pennsylvania- 61% say Kamala will win

• Arizona- 50% said Kamala, 46% predicted Señor T

• Georgia- 57% see a Trump win

I suspect that MAGA Mike’s decision— actually Trump’s decision but MM is taking the heat for him— to not bring back the House to deal with the impact of Hurricane Helene in devastated parts of North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, Virginia and South Carolina, won’t help either. Biden formally asked him to have the House help fund emergency efforts but on Fox News Sunday, MM flatly refused to commit to reconvening the House or doing anything to help the battered areas on the Southeast. MM said they'd reconvene after the election in a month! Kaitlin Lewis reported that Biden “specifically requested funding for the Small Business Administration (SBA), which he said will run out of money before lawmakers return to session as it supports small business owners recovering from the storm.” With Hurricane Milton strengthening— potentially into one of the worst storm to ever hit Florida— and heading towards that state’s [largely Republican] west coast, the Republicans are sitting on their Climate Crisis-denying hands. Trump’s strategy in telling MM to ignore the pleas for help is the old one— that the chaos, misery and dysfunction will help his electoral bid.

Ben Braver is a public school teacher in the Tampa Bay area, waiting for Hurricane Milton to hit tomorrow. He is a candidate for the state Senate, running for a seat held by reactionary Republican Dan Burgess. You can contribute to Braver’s campaign here. “I was told once,” he told us, “that having a child was the worst thing you could do for the environment. The amount of Carbon Emissions one more person will create is astronomical, but miniscule in comparison to what my opponent produces. His policy directly leads to catastrophes like Hurricanes Helene and Milton becoming more frequent and more devastating, not just the people of Florida, but for all people. He sponsored a bill ot use radioactive materials in our roads. He proposed legislation that makes it harder for environmental groups to sue to protect our water. He creates regulations that divert interest in environmentally conscious, affordable, & sustainable urban planning to the endless construction of new single-family homes. McMansions built on water guzzling ¼ acre plots that require expensive infrastructure we the taxpayer must provide. So, there are a lot of ways to help protect our environment; compost, get solar panels, adopt, but most importantly, help me beat Burgess this election.”