House Speaker John Boehner is spending the final days of the midterm election season traveling across the country to campaign for GOP candidates in a bid to boost the party's House majority to an historic high.
According to
The Hill, Boehner's goal is to get 245 Republicans in the House, which would be the
party's highest majority since the end of World War II.
"Obviously if we can get to a number like that, that would be an extraordinarily positive thing that [speaks to] what he's accomplished and what Republicans in general have accomplished," retiring Iowa GOP Rep. Tom Latham told The Hill.
Boehner has focused on a number of blue states, including New York and California, in addition to three districts in Iowa, so-called "blue" areas that voted for President Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, The Hill reported. This week he spent time in Iowa and Illinois and will continue on to West Virginia.
The National Republican Congressional Committee labeled the effort "Drive to 245," which would increase the party's
17-seat majority by a dozen seats.
Political experts predict that the party will gain somewhere between two and 10 seats on Tuesday, The Hill reported.
Achieving the goal would virtually guarantee Boehner's re-election for a final term as Speaker, seal his legacy, and ease the passage of his agenda when tensions crop up between different factions of the party, The Hill noted.
"He's got a good eye," Boehner aide Cory Fritz told The Hill. "He wants to go to places where he can make an impact in races that are a dead heat."
Boehner has also put his efforts into an aggressive fundraising drive and raised
$100 million for candidates across the country during this cycle.
Meanwhile,
Democrats have become increasingly concerned about the prospect of an influx of new GOP lawmakers, potentially setting back the influence of the party's congressional caucus for years to come.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.