Here is a list of the senators to watch during the immigration proceedings and the political pressures they face back home: Dean Heller, R-Nev. Heller is, on paper, a perfect target for backers of the immigration bill: a lawmaker from a western state with a burgeoning Hispanic population who has shown a willingness to play ball on bipartisan issues. Earlier this spring, Heller, who was appointed to the Senate in 2011 and won a full term last year, flirted with supporting a bipartisan background check agreement before backing away at the last minute. But likely more important than Heller’s legislative history are the current political demographics of Nevada, a now-purple state that went to President Barack Obama in 2012 by 6 points. According to exit polling, 19 percent of the presidential voters in the state were Latino, with 71 percent of Latinos voting Democratic. Ted Cruz, R-Texas; John Cornyn, R-Texas; Rand Paul, R-Ky.; Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Perhaps there are no more fascinating in-state duos in the Senate than the Texas and Kentucky delegations. McConnell and Cornyn are the No. 1 and 2 Republicans in the Senate, respectively, and Cruz and Paul are two of the leading conservative voices who have brief, but strong, track records of being pains in leadership’s side. Cruz and Paul have hinted at larger national ambitions, with Paul expressing more openness to an immigration rewrite than Cruz. Cornyn and McConnell — both up for re-election in 2014 — have been taking cues from their junior senators. Cornyn, for example, was one of only three senators to vote against then-colleague John Kerry’s bid to be secretary of State. Cruz, of course, was one of the others. Texas is a state that for the moment is solidly red, but it’s also a place where Democrats hope they can soon find themselves in the mix, largely because of the growing Hispanic population. Patrick J. Toomey, R-Pa. Toomey, the former Club for Growth president, has emerged in the past few years as one of the GOP’s top deal-makers in the Senate, though admittedly, in this political climate, that’s an easier title to acquire than it used to be. rollcall/news/senators_to_watch_on_immigration-225493-1.html?ET=rollcall:e15822:26524a:&st=email&pos=eam
Posted on: Tue, 11 Jun 2013 16:12:41 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015