Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s rush to impeachment is receiving an assist from the millions of dollars at least one PAC aligned with her has already spent on House Democrats who currently represent swing districts.
Those financial incentives appear to be increasingly relevant as the final vote on the two articles of impeachment is scheduled to come to the House floor this week.
Pelosi needs 216 ‘yes’ votes to pass each article (there are currently four vacancies in the 435 member House), and at least two Democrats have already announced they will vote no, barring any unknown developments, leaving Pelosi with a potential 232 yes votes (231 Democrats and one independent, Rep. Justin Amash (I-MI)), 16 more than the majority she needs.
But when Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN-7) told the Globe, a newspaper in his district, on Saturday that he would be a ‘no’ vote “barring new developments,” he also said that four to five other Democrats might join him.
“This is dividing the country for no good reason because he’s not going to be thrown out of office. Why are we doing this?” he told the Globe.
Rep. Jeff Van Drew (D-NJ-2), who announced earlier he would be a no vote amid reports he would then switch parties to the GOP, is presumably one of those five.
If Peterson is right, and the four additional Democrats who he believes are ‘no’ votes join Van Drew and Peterson, the tally would drop to 228 ‘yes’ votes and 203 ‘no’ votes, just 12 more than the 216 needed to reach a majority.
Pelosi and her allies appear to be taking no chances. “NEW … HOUSE MAJORITY FORWARD — an arm of House Majority PAC, which supports House Democrats — is spending $2.5 MILLION thanking HOUSE DEMOCRATS for voting for the Democrats’ most recent bill aimed at lowering the cost of prescription drugs for Americans,” Politico reported on Friday:
THE 30-SECOND SPOT differs region by region. The spot for Rep. MAX ROSE , whose district is anchored in Staten Island, is called “Like Hell,” and the narrator says, “Max Rose knows you need to fight like hell to make things better. Thank him for fighting to lower drug prices.” The ad they cut for Rep. ABIGAIL SPANBERGER of Virginia is called “And You” — it says if Medicare could negotiate lower drug prices, it should be good for seniors, “for you, and you, and you.” The spot for Iowa Rep. ABBY FINKENAUER urges her to “keep taking names and lowering costs,” and highlights the bill’s benefits for rural Americans.
HOUSE MAJORITY FORWARD is also airing ads on behalf of Iowa Rep. CINDY AXNE, Maine Rep. JARED GOLDEN, Michigan Reps. ELISSA SLOTKIN and HALEY STEVENS, Nevada Rep. SUSIE LEE, New Jersey Rep. ANDY KIM, New Mexico Rep. XOCHITL TORRES SMALL, New York Reps. ANTONIO DELGADO and ANTHONY BRINDISI, Oklahoma Rep. KENDRA HORN, South Carolina Rep. JOE CUNNINGHAM, Utah Rep. BEN MCADAMS and Virginia Rep. ELAINE LURIA.
Ballotpedia reported on the origins of the House Majority PAC:
House Majority PAC was founded in 2011 to answer what its organizers saw as “the barrage of GOP outside spending and ensure that never again would groups funded by Karl Rove, the Koch Brothers, Sheldon Adelson and the like be able to drown out Democratic candidates.” The super PAC is associated with former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) who raised funds for the group in its early stages. It is also, according to Politico, seen as a sister group to the Senate Majority PAC, a super PAC associated with former Nevada Sen. Harry Reid (D).
All sixteen Democrat House members identified in the Politico report as beneficiaries of this current largesse from House Majority Forward are among the 31 House Democrats who represent districts President Trump won in 2016.
As of Sunday afternoon, two of them: Rep. Max Rose (D-NY) and Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV) have announced they will vote ‘yes’ on the articles of impeachment on the floor of the House this week.
But as of Sunday afternoon, the remaining 14 have not publicly stated how they will vote on the articles of impeachment.
Sources tell Breitbart News the recent House Majority Forward ad buy represents just a small percentage of the amount of financial support being promised to swing district Democrats by groups aligned with Speaker Pelosi and other Democrat leaders.
Speaker Pelosi is also trying to get undecided Democrats in swing districts to vote ‘yes’ by giving them legislative wins that are important to their districts, as the Washington Post reported:
Pelosi has also tried to give moderates political cover with a series of legislative victories they can tout back home. Among them are a major trade deal and passage of a sweeping defense bill with paid leave for federal workers, as well as votes on key campaign promises to lower the cost of prescription drugs and bolster voting rights.
Some moderates are getting even more. Rep. Anthony Brindisi, a Democratic centrist who is agonizing about how to vote, secured a major win in the defense bill that the House passed Wednesday — a provision designed to boost a local manufacturing plant in his district that Trump carried by more than 15 points.
Brindisi, who represents the conservative, Trump-supporting 22nd Congressional District in upstate New York, narrowly defeated Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY-22) in 2018, and she is mounting a vigorous campaign to win the seat back in 2020.
Speaker Pelosi and her Democrat allies appear to be using these classic legislative “quid pro quo” tactics to secure the impeachment of President Trump who, they claim, used “quid pro quo” tactics when dealing with the president of Ukraine.