On March 25, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) announced that Madeleine Dean was one of 27 House Democrats who “made” their “Democrat Exit” List.
Dean represents the Fourth Congressional District, which includes all of Narberth and close to half of Lower Merion. She is joined by three other Democratic Pennsylvania U.S. House members, Brendan Boyle (CD-2, Philadelphia and Montgomery), Chrissy Houlihan (CD-6, Chester, Berks) and Conor Lamb (CD 17, Allegheny, Beaver, Butler).
Boyle?
How the NRCC managed to set its sights on Boyle is a mystery. In 2020, David Torres, his Republican opponent, was only able to get 27.46% of the vote.
While not nearly as much of a “reach” as Boyle, beating Dean would also appear to be a very ambitious goal for the Republicans. In 2020 she beat Kathy Barnette by almost 20%. Barnette is now running for the U.S. Senate seat that Pat Toomey will be vacating after the 2022 eleciton.
Lamb is the only candidate among the four Pennsylvanians named by NRCC who won by less than 10% in the last congressional election. Sean Parnell, who also appears very likely to run for U.S. Senate, came within 2.3% of upseting Lamb in 2020.
Scanlon not on “the list”
Mary Gay Scanlon (CD-5), who represents all of Delaware County, a slice of South and West Philadelphia and also about half of Lower Merion, avoided the NRCC target list. She won her race in 2020 against Dasha Pruett by almost 30%.