By Dan Calabrese ——Bio and Archives--April 20, 2018
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But on Thursday, Ms. Heitkamp, one of several red-state Democrats up for re-election in November, said Mr. Pompeo has demonstrated “he is committed to empowering the diplomats at the State Department so they can do their jobs in advancing American interests. Even if Mr. Pompeo gets an unfavorable vote in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee next week, he could still be voted on and confirmed as secretary of state by the full Senate. With most Republicans set to back Mr. Pompeo, Ms. Heitkamp’s support makes his confirmation by the full Senate more likely.It could be as simple as that. A red state senator running for re-election doesn’t want to explain to her red state voters why she obstructed the appointment of a perfectly qualified cabinet nominee by the president many of them voted for. And she’s far from the only red state Democrat senator up for re-election this year. Others who face potentially close races are going to have to think about just how uniform they intend to make their resistance of all things Trump. Remember, you hear all the time about how mid-term elections are brutal for the president’s party, and typically they are. But Democrats are defending 23 Senate seats this year, and that’s a lot of heavy lifting if you hope to gain seats, let alone tread water. Democrats can’t afford to jeopardize red staters picking pointless fights with Trump over well-qualified nominees just because Chuck Schumer thinks he has to resist everything, always, forever.
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