Paul Pelosi Attack Will Have ‘Zero’ Impact on Midterms: Pollster

Paul Pelosi and Nancy Pelosi attend the TIME 100 Gala 2019 Cocktails at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City on April 23, 2019. Jemal Countess/Getty Images for TIME

Last week’s violent attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, will have “zero impact” on next week’s midterm elections, elections strategist Craig Keshishian told The Epoch Times.

“It’s just not on the radar screen of most folks,” said Keshishian, who was educated at Cornell, Princeton, and Yale Law School, and served on the White House staff for President Ronald Reagan. “The Democrats would like to see an impact but there’ll be no impact.”

More pressing issues are on people’s minds, including crime, and surging inflation and interest rates, according to Keshishian.

Pelosi, 82, was bludgeoned with a hammer during a home invasion Oct. 28 at the couple’s San Francisco home, police and prosecutors reported.

He sustained injuries and underwent surgery for a fractured skill but is expected to make a full recovery.

David Wayne DePape, 42, was arrested after the attack and later charged with one count of assault of an immediate family member of a U.S. official—which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison—and kidnapping, according to the U.S. Dept. of Justice.

DePape was reportedly homeless and living in a yellow school bus in front of the Berkeley home of his ex, a progressive-liberal nudist activist, according to journalist Michael Schellenberger who said he went to the home.

However, similar to the 2017 shooting of House GOP Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) who was targeted along with other Republican House Leadership members while they were playing baseball, Keshishian said he doesn’t expect the Pelosi attack to sway voters at the ballot box.

“That said, I’m sorry it happened to him,” Keshishian said. “He was just unfortunately a victim of crime in the very crime-ridden city of San Francisco.”

In contrast, Paul Mitchell, the vice president of Political Data, told KTVU San Francisco Oct. 31 the attack on Paul Pelosi would play a part in the election.

“The first impact is that a lot of media coverage and attention on social media is drawn away from the issues voters cite as being the most important issues in the election,” Mitchell told KTVU.

The attack also highlighted political violence, which could have an emotional impact on voters, he said.

About 24 million people have already returned a ballot ahead of the Nov. 8 midterm elections. Some 10.1 million have voted in person and 13.7 million have returned mail-in ballots, according to the United States Election Project, run by the University of Florida.

Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan elections analysis newsletter, released new ratings Nov. 1 moving 10 more Democratic House districts into Republican territory, including the seat held by Democratic California Rep. Katie Porter in Irvine. The race between Porter and former state Assemblyman Scott Baugh, a Republican, was moved from “lean Democrat” to “toss up.”

According to the report, 212 seats at least “lean Republican,” 188 seats at least “lean Democrat,” and there are 35 “toss ups.”

“Our outlook remains a GOP gain of 12–25 seats,” U.S. House editor of Cook Political Report Dave Wasserman wrote on Twitter.

One former “toss up” race for a House district in Oregon between Democrat Jamie McLeod and Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer was moved into the “lean Republican” territory.

It is tough to tell which races will become more competitive, he said. If the 35 “toss up” seats were to be split evenly by voters, Republicans would pick up about 17 seats, Wasserman wrote on Twitter.