The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation’s premier business lobby, will back nearly two dozen House Democrats for reelection, providing more evidence of the dramatic changes to America’s political coalitions.
That would represent a major change from the Chamber’s usual alignment with Republican lawmakers and candidates, as Politico reported Monday. The move is a bow to the reality that House Democrats are likely to retain the majority they won in 2018.
The 23 Democrats who will receive endorsements include first-term Reps. Joe Cunningham of South Carolina, Abby Finkenauer of Iowa, Kendra Horn of Oklahoma, and Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, according to a leaked internal memo from the group.
The group also plans on endorsing 29 Republican freshmen in the House, but the nearly even split of support marks a major ideological change. Seats held by Cunningham and Finkenauer were once Republican strongholds in the suburbs and could potentially flip back to the GOP in November.
Since President Trump’s election in 2016, the Chamber and congressional Republicans have often sparred over political issues, including free trade and immigration reform. In April, the Chamber attacked the president for withholding funding from the World Health Organization, saying the move was “not in U.S. interests.”
“The Chamber supports a reformed but functional World Health Organization, and U.S. leadership and involvement are essential to ensuring its transparency and accountability going forward,” a Chamber official said in a statement at the time. “However, cutting the WHO’s funding during the COVID-19 pandemic is not in U.S. interests given the organization’s critical role assisting other countries — particularly in the developing world — in their response.”
In the last decade, the Chamber has spent nearly $100 million on getting Republicans elected to office. During the 2016 cycle, the group only donated money to Republican candidates for the first time.
