House races

Former Army Ranger Kevin Strouse (D) will run against Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), he announced Thursday, giving Democrats a potentially strong recruit in the swing district.

Strouse emphasized his military background and struck a bipartisan tone in his announcement.

"When I was serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, it didn't matter whether the Ranger next to me was a Democrat or a Republican, all that mattered was that we worked together and got the job done," he said in a statement announcing his campaign. "I've dedicated my life to public service and solving tough challenges and I know Washington can do better at strengthening the middle-class, protecting our national security and creating good paying jobs. The families of the 8th District need leaders who have proven they will work for common-sense solutions, not the broken politics of Washington."

Fitzpatrick is a top Democratic target, though he may be tough to beat.

Democrats barely defeated him in 2006 with a strong candidate during a wave election, and the GOP has redrawn his district to be more Republican after he won back his old seat in 2010. Fitzpatrick ran eight points ahead of Mitt Romney in the district and won with 57 percent in 2012.

With Strouse Democrats are following a playbook that's worked in the past: Former Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.), who defeated Fitzpatrick in 2006 only to lose to him in their rematch, was also an Army vet.

Comedian Stephen Colbert ripped MSNBC host Joe Scarborough on Wednesday for heaping praise on Mark Sanford. 

President Obama's Wednesday night fundraisers in San Francisco brought in more than $3.2 million for House Democrats.

The pair of fundraising events, one for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and another for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), brought in about half as much as the committee raises most months.

Obama, who didn't do much for the House and Senate Democratic party committees during the 2012 election, has been more focused on helping them this time around.

House Republicans brought in $14.4 million at their annual dinner in March, their biggest fundraiser of the year.

The National Republican Congressional Committee is launching television and Web ads targeting seven Democrats for voting against Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) budget.

Party strategists believe there's little to gain from harping on the former governor's well-known extramarital affair. 

Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said Wednesday that Democrats would hammer Mark Sanford over past ethics allegations, not his extramarital affair, and said the former governor “needs to answer for” those charges as he campaigns in a special House election.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is seeking to tie former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) to other House Republicans, pushing them to say whether or not they back the House nominee's campaign to return to Congress after his fall from grace.

The DCCC sent out press releases asking if GOP leaders and vulnerable House Republicans back Sanford, who won his House primary Tuesday night and is facing Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch in a GOP-leaning district.

The release points out criticism former presidential contender Mitt Romney and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) leveled at Sanford after he admitted to having an extramarital affair in 2009, and asks if Republicans support his campaign.

"Congresswoman [Cathy] McMorris Rodgers [(R-Was.)] owes it to the people of her district to make clear whether she supports House Republicans' new scandalous standard-bearer, Mark Sanford," DCCC spokeswoman Emily Bittner says in one version of the release. "Congresswoman McMorris Rodgers needs to decide if she is interested in looking out for middle class families, or in looking out for partisan allies who betrayed the public trust."

Sanford's nomination puts the GOP in a bind — the party might need to help him win the race, but it needs to avoid being tainted by his past scandal. Many Republicans have privately groused that his nomination hurts the party's image at a time they're trying to rebrand.

The win sets up a high-profile special election against businesswoman Elizabeth Colbert Busch (D).

Former California state Sen. Tony Strickland (R) has filed for a rematch against freshman Rep. Julia Brownley (D-Calif.), giving Republicans a strong recruit in a slightly Democratic-leaning suburban Los Angeles district.

Strickland, a highly touted 2012 recruit who narrowly lost to Brownley, filed his statement of candidacy and campaign paperwork on Tuesday.

The former state senator came within 5 percentage points of Brownley in 2012, running a few points ahead of GOP nominee Mitt Romney in the district. Democratic outside groups had to spend millions against him to win the district. 

In a lower-turnout midterm election, he could prove to be a tough candidate for Brownley to hold off.

Comedian Stephen Colbert is hosting a pair of fundraisers in Washington and New York to support the his sister's bid to capture South Carolina's first congressional district.

Tickets to the fundraisers start at $500 and go as high as $10,000, according to a report from CNN. 

"Lulu and I have been through a lot together, and I know she is a bright, competent, caring woman who will work hard on behalf of all the citizens of South Carolina's 1st Congressional District," Colbert writes in the invitation for the event.

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