DEMS/ELECTION/GOP/HOUSE OF REPS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The White House is racing to address one of the Republican Party’s biggest challenges of the midterm elections: the massive number of open seats created by an exodus of GOP House members. President Donald Trump on Thursday [10-25-18] will host a Washington fundraiser for three Republican candidates vying for seats that have been vacated by retiring GOP incumbents: Jay Webber of New Jersey’s 11th District, Ross Spano of Florida’s 15th District, and Carol Miller of West Virginia’s 3rd District. Trump has also recorded a robocall for Miller, a state legislator who is locked in a competitive race with Iraq War veteran Richard Ojeda. The call is expected to be released to southern West Virginia voters this week, according to a Republican official. Senior Republicans are deeply worried about the quantity of open seats they’ve been forced to defend — something they say has made it harder to preserve their 23-seat House majority. Forty-four House Republicans are forgoing reelection, compared with just 20 Democrats. Democrats are aggressively targeting over half of the seats being vacated by Republicans, and GOP officials privately admit that some of those districts are lost causes.”
–Alex Isenstadt, “Trump bolsters 3 Republicans seeking open House seats,” Politico, October 22, 2018 7:56 pm