Five months after losing a Hawaii House seat in a special election, Democrats are spending big bucks trying to win it back.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has launched a $1.2 million campaign targeting GOP Rep. Charles Djou, the freshman congressman who won a May special election for the Democratic-leaning 1st District seat of former Democratic Rep. Neil Abercrombie, who retired to run for governor.
It’s a particularly large investment. By comparison, the committee has spent $440,000 in Ohio’s 13th District and $585,000 in Iowa’s 2nd District — seats in Democratic-leaning areas where the party is defending vulnerable incumbents. The DCCC has spent $1.4 million to protect the Massachusetts 10th District seat of retiring Democratic Rep. Bill Delahunt, which lies in the expensive Boston media market.