Declaring once again that the impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump are “backfiring” on Democrats, U.S. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler issued a prediction this week that Republicans will win back the House and hold onto the White House in 2020.
Mr. Reschenthaler, a Republican who represents Western Pennsylvania’s 14th district, told Fox News that Democrats will face electoral consequences for supporting impeachment, especially in districts held by Democrats that Mr. Trump carried in 2016.
“I think we’re going to get a lot of those seats back and take back the House in 2020,” Mr. Reschenthaler said.
As evidence, Mr. Reschnenthaler said polling has shown that independent and swing voters are dismayed by impeachment, and that the longer the Democrats’ effort “drags out,” the more those crucial voters will join the Republican Party.
The freshman Congressman also said on Fox Friday that Mr. Trump is leading in Pennsylvania — “sometimes by double digits” — in potential matchups against the leading Democratic contenders.
Asked what polls Mr. Reschenthaler was referring to, a campaign spokesman pointed to a recent survey by Firehouse Strategies — a Republican polling firm — that showed Mr. Trump winning in matchups against the Democratic front-runners, including a double-digit advantage over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
But an average of recent nonpartisan polling — including one survey conducted after Democrats officially announced articles of impeachment against Mr. Trump — shows the president trailing in Pennsylvania to Mr. Sanders, former Vice President Joe Biden and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Andres Anzola, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, accused Mr. Reschenthaler of attempting to draw attention away from the president’s broken promises to voters — including that he’d make sure everyone had great health care.
“Trump’s broken promises have hurt everyday Pennsylvanians and have Republican politicians on the defensive everywhere from Erie and Pittsburgh to Scranton and the Philadelphia suburbs,” Mr. Anzola said.
For Mr. Reschenthaler’s prediction to come true about the GOP regaining control of the House, Republicans will have to record a net gain of 18 seats next year.
National GOP groups and the president’s re-election campaign have focused resources on the 30 Democrats occupying House seats in Trump districts, 13 of which Mr. Trump won by more than 6 points.
A memo issued earlier this year by the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC supporting House Republicans, said that winning back the chamber is a manageable task, and that the path could run primarily through those 13 seats.
“If we win in these districts, Republicans need to beat just 5 of the remaining 42 vulnerable House Democrats to win back the Majority,” the memo read.
The district Mr. Reschenthaler represents is staunchly Republican, and no candidates have declared to challenge him in the primary or general election for 2020.
The nearby 17th, represented by Democrat Conor Lamb, is one of the seats Republicans are targeting. Challenging Mr. Lamb is Republican Sean Parnell, an Army veteran and author who has made similar claims as national Republicans on impeachment: that his opponent took cues from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to vote for the “sham” impeachment.
Mr. Reschenthaler, emerging as one of the more prominent voices among freshman Republicans in Washington, will be “actively involved” in the GOP’s effort to take back the House and hold onto the White House, he said.
“It’s crucial for me to campaign vigorously to stop Nancy Pelosi and Congressional Democrats from pursuing their radical agenda such as banning airplanes, giving taxpayer funded healthcare to illegal immigrants, and banning gas and oil production in southwestern Pennsylvania,” Mr. Reschenthaler said in a statement.
First Published: December 29, 2019, 5:48 a.m.
