House GOP marches into deeper blue terrain as Dem prospects fade

With just four months until the midterms, Democrats were already on the defensive in at least 30 highly competitive districts. But Biden’s toxicity has given the GOP optimism about seriously contesting a fresh crop of about a dozen seats that the president won in 2020 by 9 points or more — from western Rhode Island to California’s Central Valley to the suburbs of Arizona’s capital.

The result is a House map that has expanded to an uncomfortable place for Democrats. Survey data obtained by POLITICO shows the president underwater by double-digit margins in 11 districts he carried.

One stark example: his approval rating was upside down by 32 points in a June poll of Rep. Susan Wild’s (D-Pa.) seat from the National Republican Congressional Committee…

“Even in deep blue Rhode Island, people don’t want him to run again,” said GOP candidate Allan Fung, a former mayor running for an open district in western Rhode Island — a reach seat now coming into play for Republicans. He said a recent Suffolk University poll sent “shockwaves” through the state when it found Biden’s approval rating cratering to 39 percent. “I think there’s a lot of buyer’s remorse in President Biden.”