« on: May 04, 2017, 04:46:13 pm »
Red-state Dems scrape out wins in Trump era The most vulnerable Senate Democrats will have something to brag about in 2018. By Elana Schor
| 05/04/17 05:10 AM EDT Sen. Joe Manchin is high on the list of incumbents whom Republicans are trying to unseat next year. But the West Virginia Democrat scored a major win in this week’s $1 trillion spending deal — and he has the GOP to thank for it.
Manchin isn’t the only one.
Sens. Jon Tester of Montana and Sherrod Brown of Ohio, and other Democrats waging reelection battles in states won by President Donald Trump, are notching marketable accomplishments in the GOP-controlled Senate. It’s a break from the recent past, when Senate leaders sought to deny endangered incumbents from the other party any achievements or bipartisan street cred to tout back home.
And vulnerable Democrats seized the spotlight this week, repeatedly taking credit for securing a permanent extension of health benefits for coal miners in the government funding bill. “Ultimately, it was bipartisan, but for a long time, it was Democrats carrying the ball,” Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania said in an interview.
In fact, the red-state Democrats couldn’t have claimed their biggest victory so far this Congress without Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who also wanted a fix to help his own state’s miners.
But even though McConnell and the Trump White House are still shutting out the minority on big-ticket issues like health care and taxes, some at-risk Democrats are finding GOP partners for projects suited to their reelection bids.
The most popular ally for Trump-state Democrats is Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman, whose own appetite for bipartisanship helped smooth his glide to reelection last year even as it frustrated some liberals who would have rather robbed him of wins.
Portman has worked with Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) on a regulatory reform plan and is courting more Democratic support. He regularly joins Brown’s calls for stronger trade enforcement. And he’s eyeing potential legislation with Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill that would build on their fruitful investigation into Backpage.com’s role in online sex trafficking.
Portman, who helped push for the miners’ aid package alongside West Virginia Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, said he’s faced no arm-twisting from Republican leaders over giving endangered Democrats achievements that might bolster their standing in Trump states.
“I traditionally have worked across the aisle with members who are up,” Portman said in an interview, and Republican leaders “know I’m not going to back down.”
Trying to deter bipartisan collaboration with vulnerable members is “silly,” Portman added. “If we’re doing our jobs, focused on the right result, it’ll be good for all of us. Second, I don’t think the fact that I’ve introduced a bill [with a Democrat] is going to make any difference in an election.”
Teaming up on modest legislation doesn’t spark the inside-the-Beltway chatter that bipartisan collaboration on taxes or infrastructure might carry, but it can generate valuable news coverage for Democrats in their states. <..snip..>
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/04/senate-redstate-democrats-manchin-237893
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