The following article by Alex Isenstadt was posted on the Politico website January 19, 2018:
Vice President Mike Pence is launching a cross-country campaign tour aimed at boosting Republicans who are confronting an increasingly perilous 2018 midterm election.
Pence is slated to take over a dozen political trips through April, most of them to assist House Republicans who are fighting to keep control of the chamber.
The schedule has taken shape following a meeting earlier this month between President Donald Trump and congressional leaders at Camp David. During the sit-down, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy gave a sobering presentation on the House landscape and made a broad ask for help from the administration.
Pence’s push for House Republicans, according to an administration official briefed on the plans, will begin on Feb. 2, when he campaigns on behalf of Pennsylvania special election hopeful Rick Saccone.
The vice president will stump for several endangered House GOP incumbents In February and March, including Texas Rep. Will Hurd, Kentucky Rep. Andy Barr, and Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon. He will also venture to Minnesota and Iowa, where several Republican lawmakers are facing tough races.
Pence will headline a handful of fundraising events over the next three months for the National Republican Congressional Committee. In February, Pence will host events for the House GOP campaign arm in Dallas and Naples, Fla. The following month, he will hold fundraisers for the committee in Cleveland and the Detroit area.
Pence will also take steps to boost Senate Republicans.
Next Friday, he will host a Washington fundraiser for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and in March he will travel to Missouri to hold an event for Republican hopeful Josh Hawley. He will travel to Nevada in April on behalf of GOP Sen. Dean Heller, who is facing a treacherous 2018 reelection bid.
Pence advisers expect additional events to be added in the weeks to come, and say his campaign schedule will intensify as the election year develops.
As concerns in the party rise over the midterms, Trump is also drawing up an ambitious campaign schedule. The president went to Pennsylvania on Thursday, where he held an official event attended by Saccone. The president is expected to return to southwestern Pennsylvania for another visit ahead of the March 13 special election.
View the post here.