Former Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) offered a blunt warning to Republicans on MS NOW Thursday: Many of you who have never had to run in a competitive seat will suddenly find your seat up for grabs in November.
This came amid a discussion of right-wing talk radio host Steve Deace, who is currently panicking over data he is seeing behind the scenes in Iowa as Democrats reportedly put seats that voted for President Donald Trump by double digits in play.
"I've been saying for months that if you're an R+10, R+12 district, you're going to be in the fight of your life," said Dent, who himself retired from Congress in anticipation of the 2018 blue wave. "That's real trouble ... a lot of these members who are in those seats are R+15, R+10. They've never had to run a general election before."
Now, he said, "they're going to find out the hard way. They're in a real fight for their lives. And many of them don't know how to position themselves for a general election."
Republicans in safe districts, he added, have never needed to reach out to Democrats or independents for their votes. "People like Brian Fitzpatrick in Pennsylvania, for example. They've always had to do that. I had to do that. I was in a district that Obama won and that John Kerry won. So I always had to appeal to those folks." By contrast, he said, Republicans who have never had to do that are going to be "shocked" when they have to this fall.
As an example from 2018, Dent cited former Oklahoma Rep. Steve Russell. "He lost. Nobody saw that coming. But one of those cases where the wave was really big. And this guy was not really concerned about a general election. He lost."
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