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DES MOINES, Iowa — <\/span>Republicans were retreating Tuesday from a handful of battleground U.S. House races<\/a> while Democrats were racing to raise money to boost candidates who seemed like long shots earlier this year.<\/p>\n The Congressional Leadership Fund, the leading House Republican super PAC, canceled spending in four races from the Midwest to the East Coast and increased its investment in 16 other races from Texas to Pennsylvania. Another super PAC allied with President Donald Trump is cutting back in a battleground district in the Las Vegas area. <\/p>\n The decisions were disclosed by three Republican campaign officials familiar with the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity to share private strategy conversations. <\/p>\n Meanwhile, Democrats’ House campaign committee is eyeing openings in Republican-held districts and hoping to raise millions of dollars in the next week to fuel a late round of advertising that they say could net at least a half dozen more seats. <\/p>\n The shifting money in the final three weeks of midterm campaigns points to an increasingly defensive posture by Republicans, who have already trimmed their expectations in U.S. Senate races, and new aggression from Democrats, who are trying to capitalize on President Donald Trump’s weak approval ratings.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cYou can tell now where people are competing based on where they\u2019re putting the money,\u201d said Stu Sandler, a Republican strategist working on House and statewide races this year.<\/p>\n David McIntosh, president of the conservative Club For Growth, said there are only a few places where Republicans could pick up seats this year. <\/p>\n “The economic environment has not been good,” he said. \u201cVoters are dissatisfied with their Republican majority and the base is also dissatisfied with that they weren\u2019t able to get the SAVE America Act passed,\u201d referring to Trump’s plan for a strict proof-of-citizenship voting bill.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt looked like Republicans were weak,\u201d McIntosh said, \u201cand so you\u2019ve seen a lot of drop-off in enthusiasm.\u201d<\/p>\n The Congressional Leadership Fund is no longer spending on advertising in Iowa’s 1st District, where three-term Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks is defending her seat against Democrat Christina Bohannan.<\/p>\n Bohannan is running for her third time against Miller-Meeks<\/a>. Last time, the race was decided by only 799 votes, making it the second-closest in the country. It’s an eastern Iowa district where congressional cuts to Medicaid have been linked to hospital service closures and high diesel prices have been a challenge for farmers. <\/p>\n Likewise, the officials said the group won’t keep spending in New Jersey’s 7th District, where second-term Republican Rep. Tom Kean is facing off against Democrat Rebecca Bennett. Kean has been under scrutiny for his four-month absence from Congress<\/a>, which he left unexplained until disclosing a mental health crisis upon his return. Kean, who won by 5.4 percentage points two years ago, has also faced questions over his support for Trump\u2019s tariffs and the Iran war.<\/p>\n These races, as well as one in the Cincinnati, Ohio, area and one in east-central Michigan, have accounted for $13.3 million in Congressional Leadership Fund spending, more than 12% of its total through Oct. 13. <\/p>\n The group will instead reinforce districts where Trump beat Democrat Kamala Harris by narrow margins in 2024. <\/p>\n Safety and Affordability, an offshoot of MAGA Inc., pulled nearly $1 million in ad spending aimed at helping Republican Marty O\u2019Donnell\u2019s campaign in Nevada\u2019s 3rd District. Republicans had hoped that Trump’s tax-cut legislation \u2014 specifically no taxes on tips \u2014 would resonate in Las Vegas<\/a> and help defeat Democratic Rep. Susie Lee, who voted against the bill.<\/p>\n Sandler said his party needs to turn out voters who usually participate in presidential elections but often stay home in the midterms.<\/p>\n \u201cOne thing you can\u2019t say is that they\u2019ve been under-resourced,\u201d he said. \u201cRepublican resources are at a high. They\u2019ve never been this well-funded in the midterm.\u201d<\/p>\n As House Republicans have retrenched, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee believes at least a dozen more races could be within striking distance. However, they need more money to take advantage. <\/p>\n The committee launched a $17 million fundraising drive, with a deadline of Oct. 22, to pump advertising onto the air in districts that were once seen as out of reach.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not that we need the money to win in the districts where we have been running to get to 218 seats,\u201d said Courtney Rice, the committee\u2019s communication director. \u201cWe\u2019re talking about the next level.\u201d <\/p>\n One is Ohio’s 10th, a Dayton-area district represented by 12-term Republican Rep. Mike Turner. Democrats see Turner as beatable despite the former Dayton mayor’s durability and 18 percentage-point victory two years ago. Trump carried the district by six percentage points in 2024.<\/p>\n Turner didn’t begin advertising until late September, according to AdImpact, later than most competitive House incumbents, and the National Republican Congressional Committee started spending there this week.<\/p>\n If the Democratic committee reaches its goal, it would also start spending in the Miami area, suburban St. Louis, Missouri and the Little Rock, Arkansas, area. They would be able to buy ads in coordination with the campaigns at the lower rate available to candidates, due to a June Supreme Court decision, squeezing more ad time from those dollars. <\/p>\n Senate Republicans are pouring millions more into Nebraska to protect Sen. Pete Ricketts, the latest sign of how dramatically their spending priorities have shifted from battleground states toward defending seats they once expected to hold comfortably.<\/p>\n