In announcing its most promising candidates challenging Republican congressmen this year, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) effectively admitted that it has given up on winning three House races in the 2016 election.
On Thursday, the DCCC unveiled the first members of its "Red to Blue" program, designed to highlight promising Democratic candidates running in Republican-held districts. In sum, 31 candidates and districts make up the list for this election cycle.
Notably absent from the list are the Democrats running in three districts held by first-term Republicans that the committee pledged to target one year ago.
In February 2015, the DCCC unveiled its "One-Term Wonders" list, profiling 15 "vulnerable" freshmen Republican congressmen that it would scrutinize leading up to the 2016 election. Three of those "vulnerable" Republican districts--Arizona’s 2nd district, Illinois’ 12th district, and Pennsylvania’s 6th district--are not being challenged by the "promising" Democratic candidates listed in the "Red to Blue" program.
Arizona’s 2nd district is held by Martha McSally, Illinois’ 12th district by Mike Bost, and Pennsylvania’s 6th district by Ryan Costello.
The DCCC also appears to have pulled its website for the "One-Term Wonders" candidates, a possible acknowledgment of its failure to target the first-term Republican representatives.
A number of failed Democratic congressional candidates made the DCCC’s "Red to Blue" list this year, including some former members of Congress who lost their seats to Republicans in 2014.
"The DCCC has worked deliberately to support the best candidates who are ready to win across the country, and these candidates have earned their places in our battle-tested Red to Blue program. I’m excited to work as a team, build on that success, and execute winning campaigns," DCCC chairman Ben Ray Luján said in announcing the program participants Thursday.
The DCCC’s "Red to Blue" candidates in 2014 had a combined record of 4 wins and 36 losses.
UPDATE 3:55 P.M.: An archived version of the DCCC’s "One-Term Wonders" website shows that two additional Republican-held districts that the committee intended to target in 2016 are not among the districts being challenged by its "Red to Blue" program candidates. This indicates that the DCCC has given up on winning a total of five House races in 2016.
The additional districts are New Jersey’s 3rd district, represented by Tom MacArthur, and California’s 25th district, represented by Steve Knight. The latest version of the DCCC’s page announcing the "One-Term Wonders" appears to have been edited to omit these candidates.