House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (lower right) speaks in front of the House steps while surrounded by GOP caucus members on November 17, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Win McNamee/Getty Images
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy plans to unveil his midterm agenda on September 19.
The blueprint touches on the economy, immigration, parental rights, and accountability.
GOP leaders are hoping it will muffle talk of Democrats’ policy wins and Trump’s legal woes.
House Republicans are betting that the 4-part reelection blueprint Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is expected to unveil on September 19 will strengthen their chances of reclaiming control of the chamber after weeks of being battered by reports about Democrats legislative wins and Trump’s mushrooming legal fights.
“It’s going to change, a little bit, the tenor of the conversations out there,” Republican Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska told Axios of his hopes for the planned midterm messaging rollout in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
After a year of workshopping, McCarthy has boiled down the latest iteration of his “Commitment to America” plan to four planks: the economy, the border, parental rights, and government accountability.
The current rewrite is light on specific policy proposals, going with more aspirational goals like completing the embattled former president’s wall at the Southern border and undoing parts of the Democratic spending bill President Joe Biden signed into law right before the August recess.
There are mentions, however, of a brewing oversight agenda, including punishing tech companies for allegedly censoring MAGA-aligned lawmakers and withholding federal funds from “woke district attorneys who refuse to prosecute crimes.”
The bid to reclaim the narrative comes as Republicans on both sides of the Capitol have returned to defending Trump full-time after months of embarrassing public hearings by the January 6 select committee and the explosive FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago.
Add in the increasingly public spat between Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has proclaimed that he is done with Trump, and Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, the Senate campaign committee coordinator who remains MAGA to the core, and things couldn’t be messier for the GOP as election day looms.
Even with all the infighting, political forecasters still expect House Republicans to flip the handful of seats they need to reclaim power next year — though talk of a devastating “red wave” is dying down.
Control of the 50-50 Senate remains fluid, with even McConnell skeptical of major changes coming down the pike.