2020 candidates expected to use impeachment to sway voters

WASHINGTON (SBG)— With their eyes on the 2020 elections, Democrats are fighting to turn the U.S. Senate blue, while Republicans look for a red wave to take back the U.S. House. Both parties are expected to use impeachment to get there.

Their message is clear: Democrats argue that Republicans are complicit in President Donald Trump abusing his power and obstructing Congress, while Republicans believe Democrats are obsessed with hating the president and overturning the 2016 election.

Though the impeachment trial may be over soon, these talking points will carry on through November.

“I think it’s an opportunity that we’re gonna capitalize on and we’re gonna remind voters that they want to ignore your will," National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee Press Secretary Michael McAdams said. "Democrat politicians and Democrat House members want to ignore your will in the 2016 election. They’re willing to do whatever they can to impeach and remove President Trump.”

McAdams said his group will use impeachment to attack Democrats in 30 specific seats in the U.S. House of Representatives that Trump won in 2016 but were later won by a Democrat in 2018.

“We’re looking in places like upstate New York, Pennsylvania and in those areas, impeachment is extremely unpopular," McAdams said. “You hear things from voters on the road all the time. They want things like infrastructure, better paying jobs. Impeachment does not play into what voters want.”

Democrats, meanwhile, plan to use impeachment to target vulnerable U.S. Senate seats like those of Colorado's Cory Gardner and Maine's Susan Collins.

“You’re gonna need Democratic and Republican votes if you’re gonna try and win in 2020 and explain to these folks why you didn’t think it was important to hear from other witnesses in this impeachment trial," political strategist Rodell Mollineau said.

Republicans will have to defend themselves against Democrats' accusations of protecting the president's alleged wrongdoing.

“The president of the United States has pretty much set up a faction within his party that, you know, when he said several years ago that, ‘I could shoot somebody on 5th Avenue and my supporters wouldn’t do anything,’ I didn’t think he was talking about U.S. senators but that’s kind of where we’re going to right now," Mollineau said.

How candidates talk about impeachment should depend on the district in which they're running, Mollineau said.

“I think that if you’re a Democrat in a swing district, you need to talk about the fact that, as a member of Congress, you have a duty to hold the president accountable," Mollineau said. "If you’re a moderate Democrat, this is not something to celebrate. This is something, it’s a dark time for the country but it’s something that you felt that you had to do as a Democrat.”

Strategists said while impeachment hasn't necessarily caused candidates to spend money sooner, it has energized bases earlier than usual, a sign the 2020 elections will be grueling.