House Democrats' campaign chief defends vulnerable members keeping distance from Harris

NEW YORK — Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), the House Democrats’ campaign chief, is defending vulnerable lawmakers who have kept their distance from Vice President Harris while campaigning.

Speaking to The Hill during an interview in New York City on Wednesday, DelBene — the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) — said members in battleground districts should run their races in ways that cater to their voters, even if it breaks from the “national landscape.”

“In swing districts, and when we talk about, kind of our world, the battleground races, are these districts that were drawn to be divided. They’re purple. And so I think all of them are focused on what their communities want to see, which is who’s going to be an authentic leader for our district; who’s gonna be our voice in Congress,” DelBene said.

“And the reason that they are all elected right now is because they have been independent, authentic voices for their districts, and they’re gonna continue to do that,” she continued. “But it’s about making sure people understand where they stand, what their issues are. There’s the national landscape but they’re representing their districts, their voices for their districts.”

The comments were in response to a question about a handful of House Democrats who have not formally endorsed Harris in her bid for the White House, including Reps. Jared Golden (Maine), Mary Peltola (Alaska) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.) — all of whom represent districts former President Trump won in 2020.

While Harris’s ascension to the top of the presidential ticket — a historic development that came after President Biden dropped out of the race — energized the party’s base, those three House Democrats and other vulnerable members have been hesitant to issue public support, focusing on the diverse nature of their districts.

Golden, Peltola and Perez, for example, were among those who skipped the Democratic National Convention in August, when Harris formally accepted her party’s nomination for president, and they backed a resolution in July condemning the vice president for her handling of the situation at the southern border.

Golden — whose district broke for Trump by just more than 6 percentage points in 2020 — issued a statement after Harris secured the nomination that stopped short of endorsing Harris, writing that she has to “earn” his vote and that of his constituents.

“I expect to have to work to earn Mainers’ votes and our candidates for president should expect the same,” Golden said. “Kamala Harris has been a candidate for president for less than a week and I look forward to learning more what kind of leader she would be.”

DelBene, however, said that distance is acceptable. Pressed on whether the separation concerns her, she responded: “They’ve always been running their own races, and that’s why they’ve been great leaders.”

“And that’s frankly in the House across the board, is about having folks who are going to stand up for their districts,” she added.

DelBene spoke to The Hill as she crisscrossed the country in the lead-up to Election Day, campaigning for House Democrats and raising money to support their races. The DCCC chair — who has served in the House since 2012 — said she is “very confident” Democrats will win the majority in November, a feat that would hand Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) the Speaker’s gavel.

“We have great candidates running across the country, we have the resources to make sure they can get their message out, and the American people are with us on the issues,” DelBene said.

The campaign chief would not, however, predict how many seats her party will pick up next month. Democrats need to net four seats to win the majority next year. She mentioned pickup opportunities in New York, California, Wisconsin, Iowa and Montana.

“I’m never gonna be the one to say the number because I’m gonna work to make sure we get as many as we can,” she said. “We’re gonna work hard to get every single seat we can.”