GOP-Leaning Business PAC Endorses Six Dems for House
The fact that the Business-Industry Political Action Committee (BIPAC) on Wednesday included six Democratic candidates among its nine latest U.S. House endorsements speaks to the risks of too tightly typecasting the partisan preferences of the nation's major interest groups. While it is easy to pigeonhole labor unions as steadfast allies of the Democratic Party and business groups as closely wedded to the Republican Party, these organizations like to have good working relationships with sympathetic members of both major political parties — especially those that the groups think are going to be incumbents when the next Congress rolls around.
Of the six Democratic endorsees, there are four incumbents — Texans Nick Lampson and Ciro D. Rodriguez , Melissa Bean of Illinois and Jim Marshall of Georgia — along with Kurt Schrader, the party's nominee for an Oregon seat left open by a Democratic incumbent, and Bobby Bright, who is seeking to take over a Republican open seat in Alabama. All are engaged in races currently rated by CQ Politics as highly competitive except Bean, who is more heavily favored.
BIPAC's three new Republican endorsees are incumbents Jon Porter of Nevada and Phil English of Pennsylvania, and Dean Andal, who is challenging freshman Democratic Rep. Jerry McNerney .
Gregory S. Casey, president and chief executive officer of BIPAC, said in a statement that the nine endorsees “might not always agree with us, but they are willing to work with us to find common solutions to everyday American economic challenges. With the key issues before us now, we need their voices at the table.”
This latest endorsement slate does not mean, however, that BIPAC is abandoning its longstanding lean toward the Republican Party. Overall this year, BIPAC has now endorsed 40 candidates for Congress : 10 Republicans and 1 Democrat for the Senate and 21 Republicans and 8 Democrats for the House.
In fact, before Wednesday, BIPAC had endorsed only three Democrats running for seats in Congress this year. They are Mark Warner , a former Virginia governor who is a virtual shoo-in to succeed retiring Republican Sen. John W. Warner (no relation); Georgia Rep. John Barrow , who is favored to win a third term in the state's 12th District that includes most of Augusta and Savannah; and Adam Cote, a lawyer and Iraq War veteran from Maine's open 1st District who BIPAC endorsed for the Democratic nomination but who lost his primary election in June.
Here's a look at the nine House candidates BIPAC endorsed Wednesday, with a summary of the outlooks for the contests in their districts.
Incumbents
• Melissa Bean , Democrat, Illinois' 8th District . Bean, who represents suburbs northwest of Chicago that historically have had a more Republican orientation, is strongly favored to win a third term this November. This is in part because Bean, a former businesswoman herself, has maintained a good relationship with business groups. Republican Steve Greenberg, himself a businessman, has struggled to raise sufficient campaign funds. CQ Politics rating : Democrat Favored
• Phil English , Republican, Pennsylvania's 3rd District . English faces a serious challenge from Democrat Kathy Dahlkemper, an arboretum director, as he bids for a eighth term in a northwestern Pennsylvania district that includes Erie. CQ Politics rating : Leans Republican
• Nick Lampson , Democrat, Texas' 22nd District . Lampson, who might be the most politically vulnerable Democrat in the House, faces Republican Pete Olson, a former Senate aide. They are competing in a Republican-leaning district in and around Houston that was long represented by Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader who resigned his seat in 2006. BIPAC credited Lampson's work on economic development issues and for protecting jobs at the nearby Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. CQ Politics rating : No Clear Favorite
• Jim Marshall , Democrat, Georgia's 8th District . Marshall, who represents a Republican-leaning district in central and south-central Georgia, is one of the most conservative Democrats in the House. He narrowly escaped defeat in his 2006 re-election contest, but is a slight favorite this year against Republican nominee Rick Goddard, a retired Air Force major general. CQ Politics rating : Leans Democratic
• Jon Porter , Republican, Nevada's 3rd District . Porter survived a close contest in 2006 in a district that includes suburbs of Las Vegas and includes part of the city itself, and his re-election campaign this year against state Sen. Dina Titus — the 2006 Democratic nominee for governor — is no less challenging. CQ Politics rating : No Clear Favorite
