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Republicans name 55 House Democrats as 2020 targets

A majority of the targets represent districts that backed Trump

Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., chairs the NRCC. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., chairs the NRCC. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)

Republicans will be targeting 55 House Democrats in 2020, the majority of whom are new members, the National Republican Congressional Committee announced Thursday.

The lengthy target list, shared first with Roll Call, includes all 31 Democrats in districts President Donald Trump carried in 2016. The list also includes 20 districts that Hillary Clinton won in 2016 that were previously represented by Republicans.

“Freedom or socialism — that’s the choice in 2020,” NRCC Chairman Tom Emmer of Minnesota said in a statement.

Emmer said the committee is working to recruit “strong, accomplished Republican candidates who will deliver our message of individual freedom and hold these targeted members accountable for the radical policies being pushed by the socialist Democrats in their party.”

The list is largely composed of freshman members who flipped GOP-held seats in 2018.

But targets also include nine veteran Democrats mostly in Trump districts, including Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairwoman Cheri Bustos of Illinois.

The NRCC noted that the target list included a House seat it views as “trending toward President Trump,” a reference to Oregon Rep. Peter A. DeFazio. Clinton won his 4th District by one-tenth of a point in 2016, after former President Barack Obama had carried it by wider margins in 2008 and 2012.

Below is the list of GOP targets:

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