A Conservative's Plan for Winning Back the House

By An Old Friend

A Simple Plan to Win Back the House: Adopt a District

By Derek Hunter
March 29, 2020 12:01:00 A.M.

Given how Democrats have conducted themselves with control over just one half of one branch of government, the thought that they could retain that control, let alone gain more in November, is horrifying. Imagine the people who insisted on inserting cronyism into a bill designed to save the economy from collapse having the power to implement the entirety of their agenda. There would be no pulling up from that nosedive. That is why it’s important not only to retain the Senate and the White House but to retake the House as well.

That, as most things in politics are, is much easier said than done.

Trying to win races across the country as a challenger is hard enough, but in a time of quarantines and social distancing, it seems nearly impossible. It is not impossible. It is imperative.

So how do we do it? There’s a simple plan we conservatives can adopt to greatly improve our chances: adopt a district.

I live in Maryland, a deep blue state gerrymandered to the point that no House district is truly competitive. In 2011 Democrats did all they could to eliminate Republican members of Congress, successfully wiping two of three out of existence. They only didn’t eliminate the last one because they couldn’t. There are too many Republicans to spread them everywhere and make the whole state’s delegation blue, so they put as many as they could in one district. Still, to leftists, one GOP Member is better than three, especially when every Democrat is safe.

The reality in Maryland, and likely where you live too, is that no effort, no amount of money, is going to flip one of those other districts. Working on campaigns there, or donating money, is a waste of time. So don’t do it.

Yes, Republicans put up candidates; those candidates raise money and recruit volunteers, generally people who live there, and put up a fight. But they don’t stand a chance. All the money and effort is wasted.

This reality causes many people who would like to donate or volunteer to sit on the sidelines; futility is a great de-motivator.

So rather than sitting on the sidelines or setting piles of money on fire trying to defeat your member of Congress, who isn’t going to lose, how about you adopt a district elsewhere; seats Republicans can turn back to red?

In every campaign cycle, there are ads about how much money candidate X receives outside of their district, but it never matters. Campaign money is campaign money, and no one cares where it comes from. It all spends the same. And while your district may be represented by someone you disagree with vehemently, others don’t have to be.

I don’t live in Pennsylvania’s 17th district, for example, so that Connor Lamb represents it shouldn’t matter to me. But it does. Not because he’s a jerk, but because every vote he casts impacts me as much as my representative’s vote does. No effort on my part will oust my Democratic Representative (he won easily with more than 65% of the vote), but my efforts could help oust Lamb, who represents a western Pennsylvania district President Trump won by three points.

It helps that Lamb has a great conservative challenger – former Army Ranger and best-selling author of “Outlaw Platoon: Heroes, Renegades, Infidels, and the Brotherhood of War in Afghanistan,” Sean Parnell. Sean is a great guy, a friend, and if anyone can flip that seat back it’s him.

There will be dozens of Sean Parnells stepping up in districts across the country -- districts you don’t live in, in states you don’t live in -- where your efforts will do much more than anything you could do at home. Whether your district is safe red or blue doesn’t matter. If it’s safe, adopt another one and help there instead. Find a district President Trump won that now has a Democratic member and get involved. (Here’s a list of some.)

Campaigning in 2020 is not like any other time. Challengers can’t hold fundraisers or meet with community groups, gaining a foothold will be more difficult than ever before. Find a district somewhere in the US and get involved there. If you can, donate. If you can’t, volunteer. Anyone, anywhere, can phone bank for a candidate across the country from the comfort of their home. Reach out to candidates, see who you like, and adopt their campaigns.

Social media and the Internet have eliminated physical distance mattering in communication, why not bring that to campaigning? Nationalize the election, as Republicans did in 1994, by making anywhere your support is needed your district. Adopt a district, or districts, if you can. Donate to races where it will matter the most. Volunteer remotely for anywhere.

Safe districts are safe. Ignore them. Conservatives need to focus our energy where it will matter the most. Find a candidate in a district we can flip back or realistically flip, roll up your sleeves, and get in the fight. The alternative is the party that demanded payoffs for their friends and our money for their causes during the crisis of the century, maintaining the positions that allowed them to do it in the first place. Only after November, they’d be even more emboldened. If that doesn’t motivate you, nothing will.