The campaign for Republican congressional nominee wants voters in Idaho to know one thing: a vote for Walt Minnick, the Democratic incumbent in the race, is a vote for Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Labrador himself has made that topic very clear in several campaign speeches, but he took it a step further Friday by releasing a campaign T-shirt that attacks Pelosi and not his electoral foe.
The shirts are available to anyone who donates $100 to Labrador's campaign in the next three days. They are red with the words "Fire Pelosi" on the front and Labrador's logo on the back.
But it's not only Labrador and his campaign that are seeking to tie Minnick and Pelosi together and remind voters of the national implications of the race. The Idaho Republican Party has made unseating Minnick one of its top priorities this election year and has also sought to connect the freshman Democrat with the speaker of the House. On its website, the state party asks for donations to help the GOP "Fire Nancy Pelosi." Communications from party leadership have also included the same message. In a press release on July 14, executive director Johnathan Parker pleaded with followers to support the party by donating some amount of money to the cause. "Please donate now to the Idaho Republican Party to ensure Idaho takes one more vote away from Nancy Pelosi," wrote Parker. "Simply put, we can Fire Nancy Pelosi by removing Walt Minnick, Idaho’s lone Democrat in Congress."
Republicans in Idaho aren't the only ones seeking to tie candidates to Pelosi and nationalize individual congressional races. The Republican National Committee (RNC) has several anti-Pelosi efforts taking place up to November's election. The RNC has dedicated an entire website to the effort. On the site, there is a map of the country that shows which states have donated the most to the effort to fire Pelosi. The group has also been holding a regular speaking series about firing Pelosi at its headquarters in Washington, D.C., which Labrador himself spoke at Wednesday in place of Congresswoman Michele Bachmann.
Minnick's spokesman, John Foster, told the Boise Weekly that the freshman "hasn't yet made any commitment in who he would or would not support for speaker next year."
