一家重要的共和党超级政治行动委员会负责人表示，在下个月的选举中，一批关键州堪称该党的“红色防线”。目前共和党正着力支持在爱荷华州、阿拉斯加州、缅因州及俄亥俄州等地区的参议院候选人，这些地方民主党正取得意想不到的进展。
The head of a top Republican super political action committee said a batch of key states are the party’s “red wall” heading into next month’s election and that the GOP is focused on bolstering Senate candidates in races including Iowa, Alaska, Maine and Ohio where Democrats are making surprising inroads.
参议院领导力基金会的主任亚历克斯·拉查姆还指出，德克萨斯州的共和党人必须摆脱那场引发内部分裂且耗资巨大的参议院初选——据估计该初选让共和党损失了约2亿美元。只有如此，党内才能团结起来，共同支持参议院候选人肯·帕克斯顿对抗民主党人詹姆斯·塔拉里科。帕克斯顿此前击败了现任共和党参议员约翰·科宁，赢得了党内提名。
Alex Latcham, director of the Senate Leadership Fund, also said Republicans in Texas need to move past a divisive and expensive Senate primary race that will cost the party an estimated $200 million in order to unite behind Senate candidate Ken Paxton over Democrat James Talarico. Paxton defeated incumbent Republican Senator John Cornyn to win the nomination.
“形势很严峻。我知道双方至今仍心存芥蒂，”拉查姆周三在华盛顿举行的一场彭博社活动中说道，“我们必须团结一致。坦率地说，很多人需要放下成见才行。”此时距离选举日仅剩不到三周时间，唐纳德·特朗普总统正频繁出访，为那些他此前曾赢得的州的共和党候选人助选。虽然民主党长期以来一直被看好能重新掌控众议院，但近期由于选民对经济状况日益不满，他们赢得参议院的可能性也明显增大。
“It’s tough. I know there are still bitter feelings on both sides,” Latcham said Wednesday at a Bloomberg.comr event held in Washington. “We need to consolidate. Many of them just need to bury the bull——, quite frankly.”Latcham’s remarks come with less than three weeks before Election Day, with President Donald Trump ramping up his travel to support Republican candidates, mostly in states that he won previously. While Democrats have long been favored to retake the House, the potential pathways to winning the Senate have widened in recent weeks as voters grow frustrated with the state of the economy.
“我们在所有民调中都观察到了这一点，”拉查姆谈及选民的担忧情绪时说道，“其实早在伊朗冲突爆发前我们就注意到了。通货膨胀、物价上涨问题日益突出：起初是食品和住房价格飙升，如今燃油价格也涨势惊人。而燃油价格又会影响所有商品的价格，比如柴油等。”当前，民主党和共和党都在调整资金流向，这种资金流动的变化也反映出全国政治格局的微妙变化。
“We’re seeing this in all of our polling,” Latcham said, referring to voters’ concerns. “We saw it even before, candidly, the Iran war. Inflation, affordability. First it was in groceries and housing. Now it’s in fuel prices. Fuel prices affect all prices, diesel, etc.” The dynamics of the national chessboard are playing out in shifting money flows by both Democrats and Republicans.
参议院领导力基金会早前撤出了北卡罗来纳州的竞选投入，如今又投入800万美元用于支持内布拉斯加州的候选人以抵御独立候选人的挑战。这一举措促使民主党也效仿，将原本用于北卡罗来纳州的资源转而投向爱荷华州。
The SLF pulled out of North Carolina early and is now spending another $8 million in Nebraska in order to defend a challenge from an independent candidate. That’s allowed Democrats to follow suit, moving their resources from North Carolina to Iowa.
拉塔姆在谈到SLF的捐助者时说：“我们的投资者认识到，参议院是防火墙，我们必须在领袖约翰·桑恩的领导下保持共和党在参议院的多数。”拉塔姆说，共和党参议员最初在爱荷华州、北卡罗来纳州和蒙大拿州面临“艰难的退休”现任参议员的情况，随后又遭遇了南卡罗来纳州林赛·格雷厄姆的突然离世。“当然，我们也经历了伊朗战争，因此也出现了由此带来的经济逆风。”
Referring to SLF’s donors, Latcham said, “our investors recognize that the Senate is the firewall and we have to retain the Republican Senate majority under Leader John Thune.”Senate Republicans started off with “tough retirements” of incumbent senators in Iowa, North Carolina and Montana — and then suffered the sudden death of Lindsey Graham in South Carolina, Latcham said. “And of course we’ve had the Iran war too, and so the economic headwinds as a result.”
他赞扬民主党在前北卡罗来纳州州长罗伊·库珀身上找到了一位强有力的参议院候选人。他说，共和党在密歇根州和新罕布什尔州有很好的机会赢得席位，并特别指出缅因州共和党参议员苏珊·柯林斯是一位独特的候选人，她历史上曾展示出在逆风中仍能获胜的能力。柯林斯正与民主党特罗伊·杰克逊展开激烈角逐，而在特朗普三次总统竞选中从未赢得过该州的选举。
He complimented Democrats for finding a strong Senate candidate in former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper. He said Republicans have good shots to pick up seats in Michigan and New Hampshire, and singled out GOP Senator Susan Collins of Maine for being a unique candidate who has historically shown she can win despite headwinds. Collins is in a tight race with Democrat Troy Jackson in a state Trump never won in three presidential runs.
拉塔姆表示，尽管面临经济逆风，共和党拥有“对未来的愿景”，以及“呼吁结束伊朗战争、呼吁暂停柴油税”的候选人。“因此，他们提出了真正的方案来终止通胀和阻止通胀。而在共和党的领导下，这才是最好的做法。”拉塔姆说。
Latcham said that despite the economic headwinds, Republicans have a “vision for the future” and candidates who “are calling for an end to the Iran war, calling for a pause on the diesel tax.”“And so they’ve got real proposals to end inflation and to stop inflation. And that’s best done under Republican control,” Latcham said.