Some House Republicans are worried about the electability of presidential candidate Newt Gingrich and how he might affect their own races if he’s on the ballot. A specific concern is how well Gingrich can fare in the suburbs, especially among women and independents,
Politico reports.
The electability issue was the main topic of discussion among about 10 members of Congress, many of them freshmen, on the bus ride back from the House GOP retreat in Baltimore last week, one of the members told Politico.
The issue of Gingrich’s popularity among suburbanites was a major focus of that chat, because that’s a demographic that’s crucial to the re-election efforts of many GOP House members.
“When I saw the reaction from conservative women, it scared me,” the congress member said. “He needs to let us know how he’s going to appeal to suburban independents if he’s the nominee.”
Northeastern Republicans are particularly worried.
“I absolutely think it’s going to matter who’s at the top of the ticket,” a House Republican from that region told Politico. “I think the prevailing wisdom is that in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern population centers, Romney would be a better candidate to help the ticket. Those areas are where you have a large population of swing state voters.”
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