DALLAS — The man who engineered the 2010 Republican takeover of the House is racing to save himself in his own election this year — and he admits, in so many words, that President Donald Trump isn’t helping.

Texas Rep. Pete Sessions, a longtime party leader and former House GOP campaign chief, is confronting a treacherous political landscape back at home — a well-funded Democratic opponent with a boffo résumé, a rapidly diversifying and more liberal district, and, perhaps most critically, a constituency of well-educated and upper-income suburban voters who increasingly are turning on the president.


His predicament underscores the grave danger confronting Republicans this fall. As the party braces for an electoral drubbing that threatens to wipe out the majority they won eight years ago, the list of incumbents under duress is growing ever longer — and even powerful lawmakers like Sessions, a sharp-elbowed tactician who hasn’t faced a serious reelection contest in over a decade, are suddenly trying to survive a Trump-fueled bloodbath. In Texas alone, Democrats are targeting three Republican incumbents who’ve been in office for over a decade.

In an interview this week, Sessions, who was first elected in 1996, was careful not to overtly criticize the president — he praised some aspects of Trump’s record, including on national security. But the Texas congressman pointedly declined to say whether he’d campaign as an ally of the president, who narrowly lost Sessions’ North Dallas district in 2016. And he appeared to concede that some in the business-friendly area — which is home to a number of prominent country club-style Republicans, including former President George W. Bush — have soured on the bombastic commander in chief.

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“I don’t think there’s any question that from time to time the president’s numbers are not where I’d like them to be,” Sessions said, before adding that voters would distinguish him and other Texas Republicans on the 2018 ballot from Trump.

The congressman said he is one of 30 Republicans whom the opposing party is training its fire on — a list, he noted, that was heavily focused on GOP lawmakers residing in suburban areas.

“They are targeting a broad brush of people, and I am in one of those seats that is a suburban seat, and it’s a strategy,” he said.

It’s a far cry from 2010, when Sessions, then the National Republican Congressional Committee chairman, helped to orchestrate a historic 63-seat wave that catapulted his party into power.

Sessions took a startlingly aggressive approach to target powerful Democrats long seen as politically untouchable, recruiting challengers against powerful committee chairmen and other veteran lawmakers who hadn’t faced tough races in years. Many were caught flat-footed and either lost their races or chose not to seek reelection.

This time, the roles are reversed — and it’s Sessions, now serving as the gavel-holder on the influential Rules Committee, who’s under siege.

The prospect of exacting revenge on the Texas congressman has thrilled national Democrats. A super PAC allied with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi plans to spend over $2 million on TV ads in support of Sessions’ opponent, Colin Allred, a former NFL player-turned-attorney and ex-Obama administration official. Major party figures, including former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, are flooding into the district to campaign with the 35-year-old upstart.

On Tuesday, as temperatures here soared into the triple digits, Allred appeared at a fundraiser headlined by longtime Democratic strategist Paul Begala at LARK on the Park, a posh downtown Dallas restaurant.

Retreating to his air-conditioned campaign headquarters afterward, Allred outlined how he intends to defeat the entrenched incumbent. He said Sessions has lost touch with his fast-changing district and is more interested in pursuing his leadership ambitions and advancing his party’s political interests.

But Allred hinted at another strategy: Winning over traditional Republicans who felt disillusioned with the president.

“I think if you are a George W. Bush Republican, you don’t see yourself in this version of the Republican Party led by Donald Trump,” said Allred, who was accompanied by his dog Scarlet, a Rhodesian Ridgeback.

Sessions, who has deep connections to the GOP’s donor class, told fellow party leaders at the outset of the campaign season that they should focus their resources on candidates in more immediate jeopardy. But in a reflection of the worsening political environment, the 63-year-old congressman has come to recognize that he will need assistance, several people close to him said.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a longtime ally of Sessions, is expected to offer campaign help. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) is slated to host a September fundraiser. And the moneyed Dallas elite — including Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, oilman T. Boone Pickens, and Gold’s Gym executive Robert Rowling — is plowing cash into Sessions’ campaign account.

Last week, Congressional Leadership Fund, a deep-pocketed super PAC closely aligned with House Speaker Paul Ryan, opened a field office in the district. The group is planning to air a wave of commercials this fall boosting the imperiled Sessions.

“Pete Sessions will not be outspent,” said Corry Bliss, the super PAC’s president. “Period. End of statement.”

During the last fundraising quarter, however, Allred outraised Sessions by nearly $400,000.

Those who know Sessions say the battle-tested incumbent won’t be easy to dislodge. In 2004, the last time he faced a career-ending threat, he defeated then-Democratic Rep. Martin Frost in a brutal race. At one point, Frost ran TV ads casting Sessions as weak on national security, complete with images of a burning World Trade Center.

The Texas Republican struck back, going up nearly immediately after with a commercial of his own featuring Giuliani. The former New York mayor said in the spot that Sessions was “working to keep us all safe — and anyone who tells you differently is just not telling you the truth.”

“Sessions is a very aggressive, tough campaigner,” said Frost, who himself once served as a House Democratic campaign chief. “I don’t think he’s a very good congressman, but he’s a hell of a campaigner.”

During that campaign, Sessions portrayed Frost as too liberal for the district. He aired blistering TV ads describing the Democrat as a tax-raiser and the “biggest” federal spender in Congress and adopted the slogan “the cost of Frost.”

Allred, who won a crowded Democratic nomination fight, may face a similar barrage. Sessions described his opponent as a liberal aligned with the likes of Pelosi — and suggested he has the documentation needed to make the case.

Allred is “the most liberal of all candidates in North Texas. He has subscribed to the left, and that is where he is. We have watched him ever since he’s been in this race. We have tapes, we have videos,” Sessions said in the interview. “We intend to make sure he earns what he gets.”

Those who worked for Sessions in 2010 recall a campaign chairman who dressed down Republican lawmakers for not working hard enough in their races, recruited GOP candidates in even liberal areas, and put trackers on complacent Democratic lawmakers in hopes of catching them saying something embarrassing.

"Counting his time at the helm of NRCC, Pete’s ended more Democrat political careers than any Republican in modern-day history,” said Guy Harrison, a longtime Sessions adviser. “Good luck.”



