GOP Super PACs Pull $10 Million From Kean and Miller-Meeks Races to Defend Other Seats
The Congressional Leadership Fund is redirecting $10 million from four House districts, including the seats of Reps. Tom Kean Jr. and Mariannette Miller-Meeks, to 16 other battlegrounds with the Nov. 3 midterms three weeks away.
A leading House Republican super PAC is pulling its planned spending from the races of two vulnerable GOP incumbents — Reps. Tom Kean Jr. of New Jersey and Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa — and redirecting the money to 16 other battleground districts, a spokesperson confirmed Tuesday.
The Congressional Leadership Fund, the House Republican leadership’s main super PAC, is clawing back $10 million from four districts: the Kean and Miller-Meeks seats, plus Michigan’s 8th District and Ohio’s 1st District. The New York Times first reported the shift, according to the Washington Examiner and the Daily Caller. The Des Moines Register called the move the first time a major national Republican group has abandoned a GOP incumbent this election cycle.
“For two years, we’ve built the resources and infrastructure that allow us to maneuver in a difficult environment,” CLF president Chris Winkelman said in a statement. “These moves keep the pressure on the most vulnerable Democrats and preserve a path to 218 seats.”
Trouble in New Jersey and Iowa
Kean has trailed Democratic nominee Rebecca Bennett in recent polling, including a 47-to-42 deficit in an Insider New Jersey poll released last month, according to the Daily Caller. The Cook Political Report has labeled him the “clear underdog.” Kean also missed every House roll call vote from March 5 to June 30 while recovering from depression, an absence that was not disclosed at the time.
Miller-Meeks is in a third rematch with Democrat Christina Bohannan, a University of Iowa law professor. Cook moved Iowa’s 1st District to “leans Democrat” on Oct. 9. According to Cook’s analysis of AdImpact data, the CLF had already spent $5 million on TV and digital ads in the district and had $4 million more reserved.
Cash shifts to other battlegrounds
The redirected funds are expected to help incumbent Republicans including Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Monica De La Cruz of Texas, Rob Wittman of Virginia and Bill Huizenga of Michigan, according to the Daily Caller. The CLF has also stopped trying to flip Democratic-held seats in Michigan and Ohio.
A super PAC tied to former President Donald Trump’s MAGA Inc. is also pulling planned spending from the Kean and Miller-Meeks races, the Times reported. The shifts come in the final weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, when the Fox News Power Rankings give Democrats an edge in 219 House seats, enough to clinch a majority.
Reporting based on coverage by the Des Moines Register, the New York Times and the Daily Caller.
