John Katko's campaign foe in race for Congress: His own party

Rep. John Katko, R-Camillus, is seeking a third term in Congress. He says he's a GOP moderate who wants to work with Democrats in a hyper-partisan environment. (Dennis Nett | dnett@syracuse.com)

Rep. John Katko is staking his bid for a third term in Congress on a promise to break through gridlock in Washington, a remarkable theme for a Republican whose party controls the House, Senate and White House.

Katko's message: He's a moderate Republican trying to push his party into acting on the toughest issues of the day by working with Democrats in a hyper-partisan Congress.

It may turn out to be a shrewd strategy in a Central New York congressional district that leans Democratic, but where Katko has demonstrated his cross-party appeal. He won by 20 percentage points over his Democratic opponents in both of his previous campaigns.

In the 2016 election, Katko was one of only 23 House Republicans to win a congressional district carried by Hillary Clinton.

Asked if his anti-gridlock message condemns his own party, Katko doesn't hesitate. He blames his fellow Republicans -- specifically hard-right conservatives -- for preventing Congress from acting on key issues such as immigration, infrastructure and healthcare reforms.

He's especially frustrated by the reluctance of GOP leaders - who have a 42-seat House majority -- to reach across the aisle and compromise with Democrats on the biggest issues over the past two years.

"Look at all of the legislation we got done," Katko said in an interview. "We got a lot done. But it was all Republicans without Democratic support. We've got to get back to the point where we think Democrats are as important as moderate Republicans."

Dana Balter, the Syracuse Democrat challenging Katko in the 24th Congressional District election, doesn't believe Katko is sincere about wanting to work with Democrats. She said he talks a lot about bipartisanship and ending gridlock. But in the end, Katko is a reliable Republican vote on big issues who does little to push back against his party, Balter said.

Katko said the House Freedom Caucus, about three dozen of the GOP's most conservative members, blocked Republicans from making bipartisan deals on some of the biggest issues before Congress over the past two years. He said the caucus represents the "extreme" wing of the party.

"Yes, we have control of the House," Katko said. "Yes, we have control of the Senate. And we have a Republican president. But we still have the gridlock of not being able to move things that could be more bipartisan because of the extreme elements."

Nathan Gonzales, a political analyst in Washington, D.C., said he hasn't seen other Republicans in Congress adopt a similar campaign message. Gonzales, who tracks House races as editor of the Inside Elections newsletter, said it's probably a good campaign theme for a candidate like Katko.

"It sounds like the right message when you represent a district that Hillary Clinton carried, and that Barack Obama carried twice," Gonzales said. "It's not a typical Republican message because there aren't a lot of Republicans that represent districts like this."

He said it's possible Katko will alienate some of his GOP base, but it's unlikely to hurt him because conservative Republicans won't vote for a Democrat.

"It's better to brand yourself as part of the solution than being tied to being part of the problem," Gonzales said.

Katko said the House Freedom Caucus chaired by Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., is a big part of the problem leading to gridlock.

Meadows and his caucus wield disproportionate power within the GOP because of House rules that allow any single member to force a vote to oust the House Speaker, Katko said.

Meadows followed through with that threat in the fall of 2015 when he authored a motion to oust former House Speaker John Boehner, ultimately leading to Boehner's downfall.

The Freedom Caucus used that same threat of a no-confidence vote to keep House Speaker Paul Ryan from advancing bills where mainstream Republicans and Democrats are likely to compromise, Katko said.

Katko, R-Camillus, co-chairs the 50-member Tuesday Group of moderate House Republicans who call themselves the "governing wing" of the GOP. And he increasingly has tried to use that post to push back against the hard-right of his party.

Ryan, aware of Katko's growing influence among moderates, gave him a seat this year in his weekly leadership meetings with about 12 House Republicans who represent a cross-section of the party, Katko said.

Last month, Katko announced he will not support his party's candidate for House Speaker (assuming the GOP can hold its majority) unless he or she promises to change the rules and make it easier for bipartisan bills to pass.

Katko was among 19 House members to make the pledge (nine Republicans and 10 Democrats) as part of the Problem Solvers Caucus. The caucus is a group of 48 House members evenly divided among both parties who have promised to "break the gridlock" in Washington.

One of the group's proposed rule changes would require one-third of the House to sign a public petition to force any vote to oust the House Speaker. The caucus also wants to fast-track any legislation co-sponsored by at least two-thirds of the House.

The group says its agenda is to "weaken the extremists in both parties and give bipartisan ideas a fighting chance to become law in the next Congress."

Balter, the Democrat attempting to unseat Katko in the Nov. 6 election, said the congressman's focus on bipartisanship amounts to an empty promise.

"Everything that comes out of him is one big political calculation to make him look good to his voters and stay safe instead of doing the hard work that needs to be done," Balter said.

Balter, who helped lead a Syracuse coalition that formed to fight President Donald Trump's agenda, notes that Katko welcomed Vice President Mike Pence to Syracuse, where he headlined a fundraiser for the congressman.

Ivanka Trump also visited Syracuse for a joint appearance with Katko to tout a job training program.

Balter said the proof of Katko's loyalty to party is that he votes with Republicans about 90 percent of the time in the House.

Katko split with Republicans on key votes such the repeal of the Affordable Care Act and a Farm Bill that would scale back the federal food stamp program, but Balter said she views those votes as a political calculation.

She points to Katko's vote to pass the Republican tax overhaul last year that included a repeal of the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate that requires individuals to buy and maintain health insurance.

Balter said the permanent repeal, fully effective in 2019, essentially dooms the Affordable Care Act -- a bill Katko promised not to repeal without a viable replacement.

In a sign of how partisan Congress has become, Katko's voting record still makes him one of the most independent members of the House, according to an analysis by ProPublica an independent nonprofit newsroom.

Katko ranked as the most independent of all 26 sitting House members from New York state through July 24, according to figures ProPublica compiled for Syracuse.com.

He ranked 14th among all House Republicans for voting against a majority of the party on contested votes on legislation, and 25th among the 430 sitting House members, ProPublica found.

In perhaps his highest-profile effort to bridge the partisan divide, Katko helped lead a group of 20 Republican moderates who tried to negotiate a compromise on  immigration reform that could gain the support of Trump, Republican moderates and Democrats.

The GOP moderates pressured Ryan into allowing a vote on their bill, but in the end the legislation was overwhelmingly rejected by a vote of 301-121 on June 27.

Katko was among 121 Republicans who voted to pass the bill, but the House Freedom Caucus helped rally 112 GOP House members against the measure. In the end, no Democrats voted for the bill.

Katko said the legislation's failure marked perhaps his biggest regret of the 115th Congress that began in 2017.

The former federal prosecutor has also pushed through a wide range of legislation as the House passed 33 of his bills.

Katko refers to one of those bills in a recent TV ad about cutting through gridlock in Congress. He touted a bipartisan effort he pushed to secure more money to fight algae blooms in freshwater lakes such as Skaneateles Lake.

The Freedom Caucus opposed the spending, Katko said, prompting him to work with Democrats to help push through extra funding.

While Katko spreads his gridlock-busting message on TV, a group that supports bipartisanship in Congress has launched its own independent campaign in Central New York to tout the congressman's record on bipartisanship.

No Labels Action plans to spend more than $200,000 on five direct mail pieces and digital ads supporting Katko, according to Ryan Clancy, an adviser for the super PAC.

The No Labels group, which helped inspire the House Problem Solvers Caucus, chose Katko as one of only 16 candidates nationwide (eight Democrats and eight Republicans) that it's supporting this year.

"If you look at Republicans today, it's pretty hard to get something through that the Freedom Caucus does not sign off on," Clancy said. "Our view is there are 435 people in Congress, but on any given day they are not the ones with the influence. It's a really small minority group that controls everything."

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