Comstock, considered by many the most imperiled GOP House incumbent, did not need the additional challenge in an area with tens of thousands of federal employees. She trailed Wexton by about 10 percentage points in a district where 47 percent of voters strongly disapprove of Trump, according to a June Monmouth University poll. A Politico report Friday morning indicated that national Republicans would consider cutting Comstock off from funding as they chose the districts in which their funds would be most useful.

Congress can still authorize a raise for the federal civilian employees, which was set to cost about $25 billion. In a statement Thursday saying that "we cannot balance the budget on the backs of our federal employees," Comstock said she would "work with [her] House and Senate colleagues to keep the pay increase" during the congressional appropriations process next month.

"I don't know how much this hurts, but it doesn't help, and she probably needs help," Kyle Kondik, the managing editor of nonpartisan election analysis site Sabato's Crystal Ball, said in an email.

Comstock will see "no electoral downside for coming out against" the pay freeze, said Michael Cohen, CEO of Washington-based Cohen Research Group an adjunct professor of public administration at the University of Southern California, who is based in Comstock's district. But "the fact of the matter is it's not going to help her very much," he added.