Democrats who have spent months emphasizing the high cost of living in their fight to win control of Congress are increasingly invoking corruption in Washington to sharpen that message in the closing weeks of the campaign, blaming self-dealing by politicians for driving up prices.<\/p>\n
Armed with research showing that voters have grown numb to the idea that politicians cannot be trusted, Democrats are using the message to stoke anti-incumbent sentiment as Republicans attempt to defend their slim House and Senate majorities. Their claim is that rampant corruption in Congress and the administration is directly costing average citizens who are paying more for necessities like groceries, gas and medicine while those in power get rich through insider knowledge, pay-to-play schemes and the backing of billionaires and powerful corporations.<\/p>\n
That message is taking center stage in political ads, speeches and debates in some of the most competitive races in the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou aren\u2019t the problem and neither are your fellow Americans,\u201d Senator Jon Ossoff, a Democrat running for re-election in Georgia, says in a campaign video. \u201cCorruption is why things don\u2019t work for the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Democrats are using the message in multiple competitive House and Senate contests, with candidates pointing to increases in the net worth of lawmakers and administration officials and vowing to embrace an anti-corruption agenda, including banning congressional stock trading and ending the revolving door between lawmakers on Capitol Hill and lobbyists on K Street.<\/p>\n
Democratic candidates also are hitting Republican members of Congress with accusations of protecting enablers of the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, after the G.O.P. had to be forced into taking up and passing legislation directing the Justice Department to release files in his case.<\/p>\n
It is yet another way that Democratic leaders are trying to yoke Republican candidates to President Trump. Multiple accounts have shown his family and others connected to the government enriching themselves<\/a> during his presidency through cryptocurrency trading<\/a>, peddling influence, securing lucrative real estate deals<\/a> with foreign entities and negotiating pardons.<\/p>\n The Democratic candidate in Pennsylvania\u2019s Seventh Congressional District, a firefighter named Bob Brooks, has an ad declaring that he has \u201cnever seen a dumpster fire\u201d like Washington, where \u201ccorporate PACs and Big Tech\u201d back lawmakers, \u201cand your paycheck goes up in smoke.\u201d<\/p>\n In Virginia\u2019s First District, the Democratic county prosecutor Shannon Taylor released an \u201caccountability agenda\u201d that she said was aimed at pursuing \u201celected officials who are looking out for themselves while raising our costs and hurting our community.\u201d<\/p>\n And in Kentucky\u2019s Sixth District, where the two parties are vying for an open seat, a recent ad for the Democratic Navy veteran and former federal prosecutor Zach Dembo promises that he will take on health insurance companies denying care \u201cand go after corruption in both parties.\u201d<\/p>\n Democratic leaders, increasingly confident of their chances of grabbing the House majority, see the anti-corruption theme as a significant element of their platform, one they say they intend to deliver on if they take control of the House, Senate or both.<\/p>\n Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, who is in line to be speaker should his party win the House, has repeatedly said Democrats intend to \u201chold the crooks accountable\u201d if their candidates prevail. In a meeting with reporters this week, he called corruption \u201can incredibly important theme\u201d for Democratic House candidates.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reality facing the American people is that the cost of living is way too high, and Donald Trump, along with his Republican sycophantic members of Congress, have actually decided not to do anything about it because so many of them are so focused on enriching themselves, their family members, their friends and their donors,\u201d Mr. Jeffries said. \u201cThere is a cost to corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n Accusations of corruption and political misconduct have been a staple of congressional campaigns for decades, though the emphasis has shifted from election to election. In the 1990s, Republicans recaptured the House after 40 years by successfully branding the entrenched Democratic majority as corrupt, citing multiple scandals such as rampant abuse of overdrafts at the House bank<\/a>. In 2006, Democrats regained power by accusing the Republican majority of fostering a \u201cculture of corruption\u201d with various scandals, including one involving a lawmaker who sent sexual messages to teenage House pages<\/a>.<\/p>\n But Democrats say their research, including in focus groups, uncovered a unique aspect to the corruption issue in recent months. In those discussions, voters blamed a \u201crigged system\u201d for the high costs they were facing. Internal surveys revealed that voters favored taking on the corrupt system even more than other Democratic priorities, such as bringing down health care costs.<\/p>\n