Mitt Romney dominated the first presidential debate and the change in momentum could be a huge boost to Republican congressional candidates, according to the man tasked with preserving and increasing the GOP majority in the House of Representatives.
Texas Rep. Pete Sessions is chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. He says Mitt Romney delivered a message in the debate that Americans have been waiting to hear. “We finally had someone stand up and say ‘Mr. President, these things you’ve been saying simply are not true,'” said Sessions.
“Not just about him as a candidate and not just about the tax code and not just about what Republicans stand for but really to say that the American people need someone who will lead to the very best.”
Sessions says the strong performance came at the perfect time for Republicans, who had been on their heels recently.
“It really matters to members of Congress and those who are running as Republican candidates because we’ve had a down couple of weeks where momentum has not been going our way,” he said. “The wind has shifted just like in a big football game when somebody comes out and scores big the rest of the team plays better. I think it’s going to be an awesome next month as we go towards the election.”
As for the big picture on the House races, Sessions is standing by his August prediction of a 5-7 seat pickup for Republicans. However, he admits some tough decisions had to be made to pull funding away from races looking bad but he says Democrats are doing the same.
Sessions dismisses criticisms from Obama that Romney’s is far too vague on the details of plans ranging from tax reform to replacing Obamacare. He says if they emerge victorious in November, Republicans are committed to having a solid replacement plan in place when they launch the effort to repeal Obamacare.
Republicans are also actively playing defense in the 2012 campaign since they’ve controlled the House for the past two years. Sessions is more than willing to compare the record of GOP leadership against the Democrats who came before and the ones still running the Senate. He says the House GOP has actually produced and passed a budget while the Senate hasn’t done so in three years. Sessions also touts the Republicans for their transparency, noting that Speaker John Boehner and his team give members ample time to study legislation before votes while Nancy Pelosi and her lieutenants frequently brought bills to the floor with no time for review.