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Emmer described Rep. Max Miller's race as "narrow" in terms of his path to victory. Despite the difficulty of the race, Emmer defended the National Republican Congressional Committee's (NRCC) decision to continue spending money to back Miller.

Emmer initially called Rep. Salazar's campaign ad, which suggested that Donald Trump's immigration enforcement efforts had "gone too far," a "huge mistake," questioning why that message was used at that time. However, he later walked back those comments, stating that Salazar "knows her district."

Emmer noted that a difficult national environment—including an unpopular president and voter concerns over the cost of living and gas prices driven by the war in Iran—is testing the GOP's strategy. Specifically, he pointed to the North Carolina Senate race, where Democrat Roy Cooper has opened a lead in polls, as having a "large impact" on the 1st and 11th district races in that state. He also mentioned the difficulty of statewide candidates who are not creating momentum.

During his travel between Charlotte and Richmond, Tom Emmer met with Representatives Mark Harris (R-N.C.) and Rob Wittman (R-Va.). Emmer also planned to visit 56 districts between September and Election Day to coordinate these efforts.

Emmer stated that Republicans learned a "hard way" in 2022 when expectations of a "red wave" led the party to spread its resources too broadly across the map. Because of this experience, he is now urging the party to be more conservative about what they are going after, emphasizing the need to narrow the battlefield rather than expanding it.

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) is advocating for a more targeted and conservative spending strategy, comparing the campaign to a business balance sheet. He argues that Republicans should focus their resources on districts where they can get the "biggest return" and identify which races are no longer salvageable so they can "pick up something over there." This approach is a reaction to the 2022 cycle, where Emmer believes the party expanded the map too broadly based on "red wave" expectations instead of keeping the focus narrow.