In Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Republicans see a next-generation liberal bogeyman they can use to trip up vulnerable Democrats running for re-election in red states.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell might not have consciously elevated the Massachusetts firebrand’s national profile when he abruptly cut off her floor remarks during the heated debate over the confirmation of Jeff Sessions to serve as U.S. attorney general. But while some commentators said the Kentucky Republican erred in giving her a newly raised platform, he and other senior Republicans preparing for 2018 were pleased if that was the result.
Nearly 10 incumbent Democrats are up in states won by President Trump in November. And, Republicans view Warren — her politics and her personality — as a weapon they can use against those Democrats in the midterms.
“She’s not going to play well in Peoria,” said John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 3 ranking Senate Republican. “I think a lot of her antics and tactics are all designed to get attention for her 2020 campaign but in 2018, if she ends up being the face of the Democrat Party, I don’t think that’s a good thing for them.”
Warren, 67, is a polarizing politician. Her unabashed progressivism has made her as popular on the Left as she is disliked on the Right.
Where Senate Democrats are most vulnerable, Warren could be even more problematic than President Barack Obama or the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, whose seat she now holds, were in the past.
Both iconic Democrats figured prominently in GOP ad campaigns over the years, and Warren, contend eager Republicans, has all of their liberal combativeness and none of their charm or likability.
In particular, Republicans believe Warren’s crusading activities on the Senate Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs Committee, could put senators like Sherrod Brown of Ohio, the ranking Democrat on the panel, on the defensive.
Brown is up for re-election next year. So are Democratic Sens. Jon Tester of Montana; Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Donnelly of Indiana, who also serve on the banking committee.
There are preliminary plans to run advertising tying them, and other incumbent Democrats, to Warren, Republican insiders told the Washington Examiner. States on the GOP’s radar also include Missouri, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Brad Todd, a Republican media consultant, said that he’s already used Warren in certain ad campaigns, and been pleased with the results. He expects the senator’s value as the new Democratic bogeyman to continue as her name identification increases.
“She embodies the qualities that offend most of the country about the Democrats right now,” Todd said.
Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., a Republican target in 2018, said he isn’t worried and would be happy to have Warren campaign for him back home. “I don’t put too much stock in how [Republicans] evaluate the direction of our party,” he said. Trump narrowly won Pennsylvania in 2016.
Democratic strategists concede that Warren could undermine the party’s red state and swing state congressional candidates. What they’re counting on is that she won’t be well known enough for Republicans to use effectively come next year, when the midterm campaign accelerates.
“She isn’t well known enough nationally by real people for it to truly work like Obama and Hillary Clinton did,” said a Democratic operative, who requested anonymity in order to speak candidly.” But she could. That would explain why Republicans picked that fight with her on Sessions over a quote that is tough to say was offensive.”
That’s among the reasons why Republicans welcomed McConnell’s decision to shut Warren down on the Senate floor, dismissing criticism from outraged Democrats and even some neutral observers.
During the floor debate over Sessions’ confirmation for attorney general, Warren read a 1986 letter from Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, widow, to a senator urging him to oppose the Alabama Republican’s nomination to the federal bench. The letter essentially accused Sessions of racism, and his nomination to the bench that year was defeated. Sessions was elected to the Senate 10 years later.
McConnell used Senate rules prohibiting one senator from impugning the character of another on the chamber floor to quiet Warren for the remainder of the debate over Sessions nomination for attorney general. Sessions resigned from the Senate upon winning confirmation.
The floor fight cast a national spotlight on Warren, energizing liberal activists. But Republicans familiar with McConnell’s approach to 2018 said that, even if that wasn’t his intention, as opposed to simply controlling the tone of the debate on the Senate floor that evening, he’s no doubt happy if that was the end result.
“I’m certain that he does not object to Elizabeth Warren being the face of the Democratic Party,” Josh Holmes, McConnell’s former chief of staff, said.
Warren’s office did not respond to a message left requesting comment.
