The House battleground map is increasingly filled with alluring possibilities for Democrats as President Trump’s support has cratered. But with their financial resources limited, one question keeps coming up as Democratic strategists puzzle over where to invest during the crucial final four weeks of the campaign. Democrats are trying to figure out where their money goes furthest.
Are they better off seeking to run up their numbers by competing in less expensive races or for open seats in Republican areas? If they do, they might struggle to hold onto many of those seats in a couple of years, when there is less likelihood of a blue wave. Or is it a better bet to spend more and go all-in to try to oust a handful of entrenched Republican incumbents who represent more Democratic areas, a difficult path that, if successful, could put those seats in the Democratic column for a longer time.
For all the party’s current bullishness, Democrats presently hold zero seats in districts that Mr. Trump won by double digits in 2024. Trump lost all three times he ran, in 2016, 2020 and 2024.
In recent elections, Democrats did not fully try to knock off Mr. Fitzpatrick, whose district includes Bucks County, the swingy Philadelphia suburban area, and a slice of Montgomery County. The Philadelphia media market was too expensive, and Mr.
Fitzpatrick was seen as too difficult to unseat. But the party is making its biggest play there in years in the campaign’s final sprint. Bob Harvie, the Democrat who is challenging Mr.
Fitzpatrick, said in an interview that he got a call from the Democratic Party’s campaign arm last week informing him the group was planning to plunge $900,000 into his race. The top Democratic super PAC, the House Majority PAC, has reserved more than $6 million in television time on top of that, according to the ad-tracking service AdImpact. The decisions on where to spend are being made day by day and district by district, according to interviews with a more than a half dozen Democratic strategists involved in the discussions, most of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to describe private strategy.
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