Erin Kelly

USAToday

WASHINGTON — Some high-profile Democratic Senate candidates in close races are avoiding the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this week to stay home and campaign, though the trend is less pervasive than it was for Republicans in Cleveland.

At least five candidates in major races are opting out, including Russ Feingold, who is challenging Sen. Ron Johnson in Wisconsin; Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, who is taking on Sen. John McCain in Arizona; Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander, who is running against Sen. Roy Blunt; Rep Patrick Murphy, who is challenging Sen. Marco Rubio in Florida; and Catherine Cortez Masto, who is battling Rep. Joe Heck in Nevada for the seat vacated by retiring Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid.

The candidates say they are not trying to avoid appearing beside presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, who has been battered in recent weeks by the fallout from the FBI's investigation of her use of a private email server for classified information and by FBI Director James Comey's conclusion that her actions were "extremely careless."

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"Russ is running a grass-roots campaign in all 72 counties here in Wisconsin," said Michael Tyler, a spokesman for the Feingold campaign, explaining why the candidate and former senator won't appear at the convention. "You're much more likely to find him in Pardeeville than Philadelphia this summer. Russ looks forward to campaigning with Secretary Clinton right here in Wisconsin."

Most Democratic candidates in House races are staying home to campaign, said Meredith Kelly, national press secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. She said it's typical for candidates running in competitive districts to skip the convention.

Even with some high-profile Democrats sitting out the convention, there are still more Democratic candidates in close Senate contests coming to Philadelphia this week than there were vulnerable Republican senators in Cleveland last week. Democratic Senate candidates in competitive races who plan to attend their party's convention include incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado, Rep. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, former governor Ted Strickland of Ohio, Gov. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, attorney Deborah Ross of North Carolina and former Pennsylvania environmental secretary Katie McGinty, whose campaign headquarters is in Philadelphia.

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"Despite Hillary Clinton's problems, I think Democrats may be more optimistic that she's going to win than Republicans are that Trump's going to win," said Michael Berkman, director of the McCourtney Institute for Democracy at Pennsylvania State University. "If you're a Democratic Senate candidate and you think Clinton is going to win your state, then you're willing to appear with her. "

In contrast, Berkman said, there seem to be more Republicans "who think, rightly or wrongly, that 'this guy (Trump) is going to get killed, so I'm going to stay as far away as possible.'"

Among the Republican senators with competitive races who stayed away from the GOP convention: McCain, Blunt, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Mark Kirk of Illinois, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Two GOP senators who are in tough re-election fights, Johnson and Rob Portman of Ohio, were the only vulnerable senators to attend. Rubio, who faces a tough re-election bid after reversing course and deciding to run again after his presidential bid failed, appeared by video but not in person.

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With Clinton and Trump beset by record-breaking unfavorability ratings, the safest bet for candidates of both parties may be to stay home. Clinton and Trump are more strongly disliked by American voters than any presidential nominee in the 64 years that pollsters have been measuring voters' views on the subject, according to the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at Cornell University in New York.

But Democrats said there are good reasons to go to the convention.

McGinty campaign spokesman Sean Coit said the candidate sees the convention as an opportunity to talk about the positive vision that Democrats are offering for Americans in contrast to "the divisive, doom and gloom, fear-mongering" offered at the GOP gathering.

"She’s excited to be a part of that," Coit said. Toomey, whom McGinty is challenging, did not attend the Republican convention.

For Republican senators, the decision about whether to go to the convention seemed to carry more weight this year than it does for Democratic candidates, Berkman said. Supporting or opposing Trump's game-changing, anti-establishment candidacy could prove to be a pivotal moment in some Republicans' future political careers, he said.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who was booed by Trump supporters at the GOP convention when he refused to endorse the nominee, is clearly betting that Trump will lose — a defeat that could boost Cruz's 2020 presidential ambitions, Berkman said.

"For Republicans, it seems to be a moment of reckoning," he said. "Were you with Trump or against Trump? With Hillary, I just don't see that same kind of moment."

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