And as they pledge to turn their plan into House bills next year, and not just in the final sprint before the midterms, many of the Republicans’ major issues — strings of procurement in China to hiring the police to transgender student-athletes – have been fought – tested to serve as a unifying national message.
In the GOP leaders’ briefing to members on Thursday, for example, they pointed to crime as a “major issue” for Latino men, and that emphasizing that they want to “reduce the country’s dependence” on oil foreigners “obtains good results in all areas”. On the China issue, Republican leaders pointed to a poll that showed 23% of independents called it their “number one problem.”
For the most part, the GOP plan does not specifically say which specific bills they plan to use to advance their goals or what level of priority each would receive. But Republicans argue he offers critical direction as they chart a path back to the majority, both on the campaign trail and in crafting detailed policy to roll out in January.
And Republicans quickly began using the main points of the plan on their social media platforms after its soft launch on Thursday.
“I think the American people, once they see that we’re serious about this. I think it will restore confidence,” said Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio.).
In addition to their glossy, bullet-pointed pamphlets, McCarthy and his leadership team also have a disciplined messaging schedule, where lawmakers are asked to hammer out a single message from their plan each week, culminating on Election Day on Nov. 8.
The plan has received endorsements across the conference and slate, from members of the Freedom Caucus to battleground Republicans like Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (RN.Y.) to McCarthy critic and Army Special Forces veteran Joe Kent, who is running in Washington state.
Even Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — who made his disagreement known after his own campaign leader released a GOP platform — praised McCarthy in a tweet, outlining what he saw as the key tenets of the plan: “Less inflation. More law and order. Parental rights. Border security. American energy.
In addition to their Thursday debriefing, Republicans received a lengthy pre-election pep talk from former President Newt Gingrich, whose “Contract for America” inspired the conference plan. Gingrich himself called the GOP’s plan “more sophisticated” than his own 1994 plan, which helped propel this fall’s so-called “Republican Revolution” that ended 40 years of Democratic rule at the lower house.
“Stay focused on engagement. Talk about it again and again and again,” Gingrich later told reporters, outlining his message to GOP lawmakers Thursday morning. “The theory is you talk about it until you can’t take it anymore and on that, voters are starting to know what’s going on.”
Lawmakers also heard from Kellyanne Conway, a former adviser to Donald Trump, who stressed the importance of staying focused on the economy rather than diverting attention to Democratic attack points such as the attack on the Capitol, the Abortion and Climate. Conway said Democrats running on those issues could enjoy some slight bumps, citing a recent poll. But if Republicans are running on the economy, she pointed out they’re winning by “double digits,” according to those in the room.
Both guests recalled that the House GOP could straddle both old-school conservative ideas — like preaching overhauls to Medicare and Social Security — as well as major Trump influences, especially on topics like immigration. The plan gave Republicans a chance to say what they stand for after two years of opposing the Biden administration at almost every turn.
Democrats — who followed the Republican comeback in 1994 with credentials like JNCO jeans and the TLC entertainer — also see plenty of fuel for their own campaign attacks. They are more focused on the GOP’s vow to “protect the lives of unborn children,” although there are no specific references to the legislation. (That’s a key difference from the Senate, where a proposed 15-week nationwide abortion ban led to intraparty splits.)
Democrats have also seized on GOP efforts to overhaul Medicare and Social Security, though details on those plans remain scarce. While Republicans say their goal is to keep programs from reaching bankruptcy, Democrats insist that will require program cuts.
“I don’t think they have a lot of [an] agenda, ”said the House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), who will hold his own event in nearby Pittsburgh where he intends to deliver a counter message to McCarthy. “They have a lot of critics, but not a lot of solutions.”
But Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), the House GOP campaign leader, rejected Democratic attacks, particularly on abortion: “This election is about kitchen table issues… These are the issues we need to address and on which we have to stay focused.”
With less than 50 days to go until the election, many Republicans were eager to present something to their constituents beyond Biden’s scathing criticism.
“That’s why we’ve waited until now — now people are focusing on the election. Now people will listen. I think that’s a good thing,” said Rep. Richard Hudson (RN.C.), who serves as GOP conference secretary. “We’re all on the same songbook.”
