ICYMI: Democrats Seek To Make GOP Opposition To Infrastructure Bill Key Campaign Issue [HuffPost]

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HuffPost: Democrats Seek To Make GOP Opposition To Infrastructure Bill Key Campaign Issue
Democrats are wasting no time calling out Republicans who voted against popular bipartisan legislation that will create new roads, bridges and railways.
By Igor Bobic
November 10, 2021

Key Points:

• Democrats are seeking to make roads and bridges a major campaign issue ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, highlighting local projects that stand to benefit from the bipartisan infrastructure bill and going after Republicans who voted against it.

• “We cannot forget that our state’s senior senator, Marco Rubio, fought this effort. He voted against economic opportunity and relief,” Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.), who is running to unseat Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). 

• The measure is also a political boon for Democrats … Democratic lawmakers and candidates now get to look forward to issuing positive press releases and attending ribbon-cutting ceremonies for local infrastructure projects. Bringing home the bacon is as popular with members of Congress as ever, and lawmakers didn’t waste any time touting their work on the bill this week.

• “Passage of the bipartisan infrastructure package is a true game-changer for New Hampshire,” Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.)… “The investments in this bill will pave the way to create new jobs, help our economy thrive, and outcompete China.”

• The incumbent GOP senators targeted by Democrats ― Rubio in Florida, and Ron Johnson in Wisconsin ― opposed the measure. So did most Republican candidates in Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina, the three open Senate seats next year, and the Republican candidates seeking to unseat Democrats in Georgia, Arizona and Nevada.

• “Republicans will have to explain why they are standing against creating more good-paying jobs and investing in their states’ roads, bridges, clean drinking water and high-speed Internet,” Jazmin Vargas, spokesperson for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said in a statement. “And in 2022, voters will hold GOP Senate candidates accountable for prioritizing their own self-serving politics at the expense of working families.”

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