Democrats Lay Out Impeachment Talking Points For Members In ‘Purple’ Districts

BY Chris Walker September 27, 2019

Congress is set to enter another recess session starting late on Friday, during which time Democratic lawmakers will be expected to meet with constituents who will likely ask them about the newly announced impeachment inquiry.

The recess is set to last until Tuesday, October 15, which gives these lawmakers two weeks to meet with voters in their home districts. For Democrats that come from progressive areas, the case for impeachment may not be a difficult sell. But for those who come from more “purple” districts — places where their election in 2018 may have been decided by less than 5 percentage points — it could be difficult.

Democratic leaders, including Rep. David Cicilline (D-Rhode Island) who heads the party’s messaging apparatus in the House, have concocted a list of “simple” talking points to make the case for impeachment proceedings to wary constituents in these districts, the New York Times reported.

The talking points, entitled “No One Is Above The Law,” contains three messages for lawmakers to hit upon:

that Trump “engaged in serious wrongdoing betrayed his oath of office and undermined national security;”
that the president “pressured a foreign government to target a political opponent,” and what’s more, “tried to cover it up;”
and that Democrats are planning to stick to just the facts in the inquiry as it moves forward.

“We want to keep this simple. This is not complicated. This is misconduct that the president has admitted to,” Cicilline explained in outlining the talking points.

Dem messaging maven @RepCicilline shows off the fresh impeachment talking points pic.twitter.com/MzlC8rmqK4

— Mike DeBonis (@mikedebonis) September 27, 2019

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-California) announced on Tuesday her support for impeachment proceedings to move forward, effectively kicking into high gear the possibility that Trump could be impeached.

The statement from Pelosi earlier in the week mirrors in many ways the talking points that Cicilline put out on Friday.

“The actions of the Trump presidency revealed the dishonorable fact of the president’s betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security, and betrayal of the integrity of our elections,” Pelosi said.