In Republican hands for 28 years but now up for grabs, a suburban Missouri congressional district hugging St. Louis has become a lab for what each party considers one of its most lethal political weapons. TV ads by GOP Rep. Ann Wagner show protesters stomping a police car as the narrator accuses Democratic challenger Jill Schupp of support from “radical defund the police organizations.” A Schupp spot says Wagner voted “against people with preexisting conditions during COVID.” The coronavirus causes COVID-19. The pattern is similar outside Philadelphia, where GOP Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick accuses Democratic challenger Christina Finelo of supporting police defunding. Finelo’s first ad says Fitzpatrick’s backed ending coverage for people with preexisting conditions. Each contests the other’s charge. Scores of suburban districts are back in play in the GOP’s long-shot attempt to win House control in November’s election. Democrats who used health care to capture the majority in 2018 are emphasizing it anew, saying they’ll shield voters from Republicans trying to tear coverage away during a pandemic. “This is as current an issue as can possibly be,” said Leslie Dach, who heads the Democratic-backed Protect Our Care Coalition. In some races, Republicans are talking up lawlessness to try stemming defections of educated, moderate suburban voters from the GOP, spurred by aversion to President Donald Trump. But even where Republican candidates promote themes such as rebuilding the economy, Trump’s blunt-force ads and his tweets on law and order have kept it in the forefront. “If I don’t win, America’s Suburbs will be OVERRUN with Low Income Projects, Anarchists, Agitators, Looters and, of course, `Friendly Protesters,’” he tweeted recently. Wagner has voted for bills that would have ended the coverage that former President Barack Obama’s health care law guarantees people with preexisting conditions. She’s introduced bills to protect such coverage, her campaign says. Schupp has said she opposes defunding police, a far-left call to restructure and even cut police agencies that many Democrats reject. She’s been backed by Indivisible, a progressive group that supports the proposal. Each party says their messaging is poll-tested and will work. Public safety and police defunding are “an increasingly significant and powerful issue” in suburbs, said Dan Conston, president of the Congressional Leadership Fund. Conston, whose group is aligned with House GOP leaders, said with health care, Democrats are betting “their tired, dated arguments will work.” “Health care is the number one issue that people care about,” counters Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Ill., who heads the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, House Democrats’ campaign arm. She says Democrats are “on the right side” on law and order, supporting peaceful marchers but denouncing “people who are burning buildings.” So far, public polling offers scant evidence that the GOP’s law and order arguments have taken hold. A Monmouth University Poll this month showed voters nationally trust Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden slightly more than Trump to maintain law and order. It also found just 13 percent say it’s highly likely that integrating suburbs would worsen crime and harm property values. A September survey by The New York Times and Siena College found that while majorities in swing states Wisconsin and Minnesota called lawlessness a major U.S. problem, few considered it a primary concern at home. Republicans say they’ve detected growing support on the issue since last month’s violence in Kenosha, […]

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