Gun control advocates believe the aftermath of the deadly shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue could help swing the midterm elections against endangered suburban Republicans who are seen as too pro-gun.
Andrew Patrick, who works as the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence’s media director, cited Comstock’s race against Democratic challenger state Sen. Jennifer Wexton as one of the races where the gun issue will play a role. Comstock’s district is near the National Rifle Association’s headquarters. In September, former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords’ group began airing an ad targeting Comstock.
In the ad, Giffords says Comstock “has failed” following mass shootings, and that “she’s taken thousands from the NRA. We must do better.”
Data from the Center for Responsible Politics shows that the NRA has spent $137,232 on her behalf since she was first elected to office in 2014.
“Since February, the appetite for stronger gun laws in the voting electorate has only grown, and the NRA has become more politically and culturally undesirable. This is the primary issue driving younger voters to the polls and I think it will play a huge role in many elections, especially for battleground seats where the incumbent has historically tied themselves to the gun lobby,” like Comstock, Patrick said in an email to the Washington Examiner. The re-election campaign of Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., was also listed by Patrick as a race to watch.
[Opinion: Pittsburgh will react to the Squirrel Hill mass shooting differently than other cities would]
Comstock’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment, but Coffman’s campaign did.
“Mike Coffman is a strong supporter of the 2nd Amendment as well as responsible gun ownership, whereas his opponent — in search of backing from billionaire gun control proponents — has run on an extreme gun control agenda,” said Tyler Sandberg, Coffman’s campaign manager, in a message to the Washington Examiner.
Coffman’s district is home to the 1999 Columbine High School Shooting and the 2012 Aurora movie theater massacre.
Coffman is running against Democratic attorney Jason Crow, who is campaigning on a strong gun control platform that includes expanded background checks and a ban on high-capacity magazines and bump stocks.
Crow was endorsed by the Brady Campaign and Center to Prevent Gun Violence, whose press secretary told the Washington Examiner that the issue will be a “top priority” for voters next week, as it was in last year’s elections.
“Gun safety has been a top priority for voters throughout 2018 — even sooner, if you look back to last year’s elections in New Jersey and Virginia,” said Max Samis. “What happened in Pittsburgh reinforces the need for voters to elect strong gun violence prevention champions, no matter where they live, because this could truly happen anywhere.”
In New Jersey in 2017, Democrat Phil Murphy defeated Republican Kim Guadagno to succeed Chris Christie as New Jersey’s governor.
Murphy signed a package of six gun laws in June, and announced two days after the Pittsburgh shooting that he will push to make New Jersey’s already-strict gun control laws even tougher.
“If we are looking for legislation that could stop shootings like the one we saw in Pittsburgh or at least reduce their lethality, we have to look at putting the assault weapons ban back in place and banning high-capacity magazines. Mass shooters use these guns because they are looking to kill as many people in a short period of time as efficiently as possible. It is why the AR-15 has become the preferred weapon for American mass shooters. It is time we look at regulating them the way we do machine guns,” Patrick told the Washington Examiner.
Patrick, like Samis, also cited the 2017 Virginia elections as evidence of where gun violence prevention impacted the race.
Democrat Ralph Northam won the Virginia governorship against Republican nominee Ed Gillespie in the 2017 election, succeeding Terry McAuliffe.
Gun control came to the forefront of the race between the two, which was neck-and-neck in polls heading into Election Day.
Northam had an “F” rating from the NRA, and Gillespie had an “A” rating as well as an endorsement from the gun rights group.
Northam was backed by Americans for Responsible Solutions, Giffords’s gun control group, as well as Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund. The former spent roughly $150,000 on pro-Northam mailings and the latter spent at least $700,000 on his campaign.
The emergence of guns as a campaign issue in competitive districts comes as little surprise, especially after the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., that left 17 dead and others injured.
“I am not sure how much of an impact the gun issue will have next week, but what i find interesting is that more and more Democrats are refusing to run away from the issue,” said Democratic strategist Jim Manley. “For many Democrats it used to be kind of a third rail type issue — touch at your political peril. but not anymore.”
Gun rights groups don’t think the election will play out the way their opponents expect, even in the aftermath of Pittsburgh.
“The tragic synagogue murders in Pittsburgh are being used by the gun prohibition lobby to advance anti-gun rights candidates in the upcoming election. But they are only energizing gun owner voter turnout and it will backfire on their efforts,” said Alan Gottlieb of the Second Amendment Foundation.
