With a razor-thin margin of error, a senior House Republican aide told National Journal that the plan was to force vulnerable Democrats into difficult procedural votes, resulting in uncomfortable voting records those Democrats will have to defend in 2022.
More distressing for Democrats was their struggles with Latino voters they were banking on in several key competitive districts. In a call this week, Bustos shared initial results from a review of Election Night returns that showed Latino voters breaking for Republicans in Florida’s 26th and 27th Districts and Texas’ 23rd District, which Democrats believed was a slam-dunk flip after Rep. Will Hurd’s retirement.
“Trump’s massive overperformance with Cuban voters was simply too much for [Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell] to overcome, ” Bustos said, according to a source on the call.
Taking into account the uncertainty of redistricting, Republican strategists who spoke to National Journal said they would begin their path back to power by targeting districts Trump carried in 2016 that elected Democrats in 2018 and 2020.
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