Democrats were beaten for a day Mehmet Oz Two years ago, he mercilessly beat the Senate candidate who was a televangelist in Pennsylvania a carpet lover From New Jersey.
Now, in another election cycle that could tip the balance of power in the chamber, Democrats are trying repeat and expand this strategy in the most competitive races of the year.
Once again in Pennsylvania, Democrats have aggressively taken on Republican front-runner Dave McCormick. He travels back and forth from his Connecticut mansion. In Michigan, Democrats took a step unpleasant story about former MP Mike Rogerswho returned home to run for Senate after moving away to Florida. And in Montana, two GOP candidates have been nicknamed “Tim Transplant” and “Maryland Matt” — even though both have lived in the state for years.
“The Senate Republican slate is full of carpetbaggers with tenuous ties to the states they’re running for,” said Tommy Garcia, a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. “Out-of-state GOP Senate candidates are out of touch with the voters they seek to represent, and that will doom their campaigns in 2024.”
McCormick faced a similar situation residency questions When he lost to Oz in the 2022 Pennsylvania GOP Senate primary. But he has a clearer path to the nomination this year, and Democrats are trying to re-elect Sen. Bob Casey He accused McCormick of lying About where he lives, according to a mansion he rents along Long Island Sound in Westport, Connecticut.
A Gulf War veteran and former hedge fund manager, McCormick maintains a home in Pittsburgh and owns a longtime family farm in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. He has children from a previous marriage and admits to spending time at his home in Connecticut while visiting his youngest daughter, who graduated from high school there.
Pennsylvania Democratic Party officials regularly release stories and details about the mansion, which has a 1,500-bottle wine cellar, The Associated Press reported last year. They mention how McCormick recently escaped when asked where does he spend most of his time? When McCormick embarked on a bus tour last weekend, Casey’s campaign sent mobile billboard to an event to advertise that it was “216 miles away” from Westport.
McCormick also did himself no favors when he mispronounced the name of Pennsylvania’s favorite Yuengling beer last fall. on the conservative podcast – reminding gross error When Oz went shopping for food to cut and butcher the name of a local grocery store chain.
A McCormick spokeswoman reached out to NBC News when asked about the residency issue for this story. interview McCormick this month to NBC affiliate WJAC in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
“I’m going to Connecticut to see my daughter, and that’s part of being a good father, and I’m going to continue to do that,” McCormick said in an interview. “I’m renting a house there so I can do that when I’m there. If there is a political cost to it, so be it.”
Democrats elsewhere are happy to share A recent article from the Michigan Advance titled “Where’s Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood?”—a report highlighting the home of Mike Rogers and his wife in Coral, Florida. The home is valued at about $1.7 million, and the couple claimed a $50,000 homestead exemption on their last property tax bill, records show.
Michigan Democratic Party spokesman Sam Chan said: “Michigan families will not be fooled by Rogers after he dumped them in Florida and went through the revolving door to enrich himself with cushy corporate gigs.”
GOP operatives are watching the race counter, suggesting that Rogers’ residency problems aren’t all that different who once ran away from Rep. Elissa SlotkinDemocratic Senate candidate who served in the Bush and Obama administrations before returning to Michigan to run for Congress in 2018.
Rogers resumed residency in Michigan last year, but its roots are deep in the state. He was a state senator and represented the Lansing area in Congress for 14 years before retiring in 2015 and entering the private sector. The National Republican Senatorial Committee endorsed him in the crowded GOP primary.
“Michigan is and always has been home to Mike and Christy Rogers. It’s where they went to elementary school, graduated from Adrian College and Michigan State, and where Mike and Kristy’s parents became school teachers and community leaders,” Rogers spokesman Chris Gustafson said.
Meanwhile, Democratic allies of Sen. John Tester in Montana are trying to cast their potential GOP opponents as Big Sky representatives and relative newcomers, where authenticity is often measured by how long your family has lived there.
Rep. Matt Rosendale has been elected to several offices since moving to the state in 2002, but Democrats still emphasize his Maryland roots. His NRSC-backed GOP candidate, Minnesota native and aerospace entrepreneur Tim Sheehy, even amused at his accent.
“In the end, I don’t think it matters to me,” Tester said Working on a Montana dirt farm Rosendale spoke to NBC News last week after entering the race. “It is either non-state [Senate GOP Leader Mitch] McConnell’s pick or absent, McConnell’s pick.
There are Democrats is carefully examined Republicans honest breeding and there is he scoffed Sheehy’s false argument Montana has more bears than people. This week, the Montana Democratic Party released a mobile billboard advertising it casts Sheehy as an “out-of-state tech millionaire … playing cowboy.”
“Maryland Matt and Transplant Tim may try to hide their out-of-state roots, but Montanans have a nose for bull,” said Montana Democratic Party spokeswoman Hannah Rehm.
Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL, visited Montana as a child and on training missions in 2010 and 2011, a campaign spokesman said. After Sheehy left the Navy and his wife left the Marine Corps,” the spokesperson added, the couple “chose to make Montana their home to raise their family and start a business because it was a place that aligned with their values.”
Democrats will also bring their anti-carpet bagging message to Wisconsin, where Republican Eric Hovden, who lost the 2012 Senate primary, is running for another run. Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin already has allies He highlights the bank he runs in Californiawhere is he given the name As one of the most influential men in Orange County. A source close to Hovde denied the attacks, noting that he is a well-known person real estate developer in the state, a “fourth-generation Wisconsinite” and “Wisconsin all-time.”
Democratic strategy is partly a by-product of this The GOP is making an effort this time around recruiting wealthier Senate candidates who can self-finance their campaigns. But prospects like McCormick, Sheehy and Hovde bring potential baggage along with their wealth.
“Senate races are so big, and there are so many resources behind determining the candidates, that it often boils down to which candidate looks more like his home state than the other,” said Justin Barasky. Democratic strategist and veteran of Senate campaigns. “Republicans have suffered from the quality of candidates over the years, which has cost them races in many states. “It seems that their strategy has become to hire candidates from outside the states because they think these candidates will be more acceptable on the issues.”
NRSC communications director Mike Berg said his party’s candidates contrast favorably with long-serving senators like Casey and Tester.
“While Republicans have chosen a slate of political outsiders with experience in the military and private sector, Senate Democrats are moving away from the same, career politicians who have spent decades in Washington making life worse for everyday Americans,” Berg said. “We will play this match every time.”
It is unclear how much the carpet bag was attacks caused Oz to lose nearly 5 points in 2022. Democrat John Fetterman often derided Oz as an opportunistic interventionist and trolled him on social media with New Jersey-related gags. on Wednesday Type in XFetterman recalled “the storied love affair of Dr. Oz and New Jersey” while “wishing a Happy Valentine’s Day to my new favorite couple, Dave McCormick and Connecticut.”
Polls showed voters developed very negative thoughts Oz. But Democratic messaging has come into greater focus as Election Day approaches position on abortion and his encouragement questionable medical treatments.
An adviser close to the Oz campaign, who spoke on condition of anonymity to share his intimate recollections, did not believe the carpetbagger attacks were fatal, but admitted they were a distraction.
“I don’t think we’ve ever advertised like, ‘I’m from Pennsylvania.’ We never responded to that because we never thought there was a problem,” the source added. “I could see the McCormick campaign spending a little more time on him because Bob Casey is like Mr. Pennsylvania. “Dave will never outrun Pennsylvania’s Bob Casey, so it’s not worth his attention.”