众议院民主党人概述了他们在2022年中期选举中的攻势选举一旦众议院地图在未来几个月内被十年一次的重新划分过程重新塑造，目标可能会改变的22个地区。
在2022年的竞选之前，民主党人发现自己处于维护极少数多数的尴尬境地，并准备为选举和艰难的重新划分周期进行辩护，在重新划分周期中，各州在人口普查后为其国会和州立法区重新划定边界。
与上一周期相比，民主党国会竞选委员会(Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee)目前将目标锁定在更小的地区，主要是郊区，这些地区在过去四年里帮助该党在华盛顿形成了多数。
但十年一次的重新划分过程因冠状病毒大流行而推迟，可能会改变众议院的面貌。共和党占有优势因为历史倾向于该党在中期选举中下台，所以在重新划分选区时，预计在明年的选举中也会有优势。
民主党人试图避免这种命运，他们提高了乔·拜登总统迄今为止标志性的立法成就——他的新冠肺炎纾困法案——以及共和党对该党明年取得进展的议程的反对。
“这份名单上的每一个共和党人都投票反对将支票放在口袋里，将子弹放在武器里，我们将确保他们所在地区的选民知道这一点，”纽约民主党众议员肖恩·帕特里克·马洛尼(Sean Patrick Maloney)说，他是DCCC的主席，他对上个月通过的1.9万亿美元的冠状病毒救助计划表示赞同。
马洛尼说:“DCCC准备通过招募有吸引力的候选人来保护我们的大多数人，并为他们的竞选活动提供所需的资源，以形成民主党为中产阶级斗争的记录与共和党为叛乱分子辩护和反对直接救济工人家庭的有毒品牌之间的对比。”
正在进行的地区名单包括2020年选举中众议院民主党在加州第21、39和48区、佛罗里达州南部第26和27区、爱荷华州第1和第2区、纽约第22区和犹他州第4区失去的9个席位。
它不包括该党去年割让给共和党的其他一些席位，包括明尼苏达州的第7区、新墨西哥州的第2区、纽约的第11区、俄克拉荷马州的第5区和南卡罗莱纳州的第1区。但是在目标清单上，拜登在2020年总统选举中赢得了一半的地区。
民主党众议员安·柯克帕特里克(Ann Kirkpatrick)退休后，亚利桑那州的第二区将有一个空缺席位，另一个区，加利福尼亚州的第25区，在前众议员凯蒂·希尔(Katie Hill)于2018年推翻该区后，将由民主党控制。但是在她于2019年从国会辞职后众议院道德委员会的调查在2020年5月的一次特别选举中，共和党声称与她的一名国会工作人员发生性关系，并与共和党人迈克·加西亚夺回了洛杉矶郊区的席位。他在11月赢得了连任。
上个月，DCCC还任命了32名成员加入其前线计划，这是一份竞争地区最脆弱的现任者名单，该党将在明年竞选连任时捍卫这些人。
众议院民主党的共和党对手，全国共和党国会委员会，宣布目标名单在二月份有两倍多的地区。但随着共和党将47个地区视为接机机会，两党仍在焦急地等待新的地图进行竞争。
NRCC的发言人迈克·伯格在一份声明中说:“有了这份名单，DCCC证实了我们已经知道的事情:民主党人正在进行辩护，因为他们必须捍卫有毒的社会主义议程，即增税、开放边境、关闭学校和扼杀就业机会。”。
House Democrats to target 22 districts in next year's midterms
House Democrats have outlined their offensive for the 2022 midtermelections, targeting 22 districts that could likely change once the House map is reshaped by the decennial redistricting process in the coming months.
Ahead of the 2022 contests, Democrats find themselves in the unenviable position of safeguarding a razor-thin majority and are preparing to be on defense for the election and for a tough redistricting cycle, in which states redraw the boundaries for both their congressional and state legislative districts after the Census.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is currently set to target a smaller list of districts, compared with last cycle, mostly in suburban areas that helped the party forge a majority in Washington over the last four years.
But the once-a-decade redistricting process, which has been delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, is likely to reshuffle the look of the House map. The GOPholds an advantagein redistricting and are expected to also have an edge in next year's races, since history favors the party out of power in midterms.
Democrats are trying to avoid that fate by elevating President Joe Biden's signature legislative achievement so far -- his COVID-19 relief bill -- and Republican opposition to the party's agenda to gain ground next year.
"Every single Republican on this list voted against putting checks in pockets and shots in arms, and we’re going to make sure voters in their district know it," said Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., who chairs the DCCC, in a nod to the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package passed last month.
"The DCCC is prepared to protect our majority by recruiting compelling candidates and empowering their campaigns with the resources they need to draw the contrast between Democrats’ record of fighting for the middle class and Republicans’ toxic brand of defending conspiratorial insurrectionists and opposing direct relief for working families," Maloney said.
The list of districts in play includes nine seats House Democrats lost in the 2020 election in California's 21st, 39th, and 48th districts, southern Florida's 26th and 27th districts, Iowa's 1st and 2nd districts, New York's 22nd District and Utah's 4th District.
It doesn't include some of the other seats the party ceded to Republicans last year, including Minnesota's 7th District, New Mexico's 2nd District, New York's 11th District, Oklahoma's 5th District and South Carolina's 1st District. But across the list of targets, Biden carried half of the districts in the 2020 presidential election.
One district, Arizona's 2nd, is set to have an open seat when Democrat Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick retires, and another, California's 25th District, was in Democratic hands after former Rep. Katie Hill flipped the district in 2018. But after she resigned from Congress in 2019 amida House Ethics Committee investigationinto allegedly having a sexual relationship with one of her congressional staffers, the GOP reclaimed the suburban Los Angeles-area seat with Republican Mike Garcia in a special election in May 2020. He won reelection in November.
Last month, the DCCC also named 32 members to its front-line program, a list of the most vulnerable incumbents in competitive districts that the party will be defending when they are up for reelection next year.
House Democrats' Republican counterpart, the National Republican Congressional Committee,announced a target listin February with more than twice as many districts. But as the GOP eyes 47 districts as pickup opportunities, both parties are still anxiously awaiting new maps to compete on.
"With this list, the DCCC confirmed what we already knew: Democrats are on defense because they have to defend a toxic socialist agenda that raises taxes, opens borders, closes schools, and kills jobs," Mike Berg, a spokesperson for the NRCC, said in a statement.
