Cathy McMorris Rodgers Faces Competitive Re-election Campaign

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., faces a difficult road to re-election as Democrats target her seat in the upcoming midterms, Vox reports.

McMorris Rodgers, the highest-ranking woman in the House Republican leadership as the chair of the House GOP conference, has been in office since 2005 and has seldom had to worry about her re-election chances, but Democrats have already managed to push her district’s rating on the Cook Political Report from "Likely Republican to Lean Republican."

President Donald Trump won the district with only 52 percent of the vote, and recent polling from Elway Research Inc. in Washington found only a single digit separating McMorris Rodgers from her Democratic opponent, former state Senate majority leader Lisa Brown.

In July, McMorris Rodgers caused controversy after airing misleading ads that claimed Brown had voted against the bill that would have prohibited sex offenders from living near schools while in the state senate. Although Brown did initially vote against the bill, she said it was because the bill was poorly worded and not tough enough. She later signed another bill that bans sex offenders from living near schools, child care centers and playgrounds.

"When you are in leadership, you basically have access to unlimited to outside money," an unnamed Democratic campaign aide told Vox. "Cathy is not someone who is asleep at the wheel. She is not letting the race get away from her."

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