Meet the moderate Republican women holding the GOP’s House majority hostage | McClatchy Washington Bureau

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WASHINGTON — Lifelong Republican Terry Poulos is the type of voter both parties say could flip the House for Democrats this November: A suburban, college-educated woman who dumped GOP Presidential nominee Donald Trump in 2016, and has since extended her frustration to include other Republicans on the ballot this fall.

Even more troubling for the GOP: Poulos, 69, told Beyond the Bubble on Tuesday, she’s now an active supporter of some of the Democrats’ candidates this election cycle, with no plans to come home to a party she says has moved away from her values.

“It really bothered me that here we have a man whose whole life has been questionable became the nominee for the Republican Party and then was elected president, so the country started to look a little strange for me [after that race],” said Poulos, a retired public school teacher. She’s among the Kansans who voted for GOP Rep. Kevin Yoder in 2016, but split her ticket to support Democrat Hillary Clinton for president.

“I consistently voted for Kevin Yoder … I really felt that [he] was going to be more of a moderate,” Poulos told Beyond the Bubble. “Now he seems to be falling in line with the other Republicans.”

This year Poulos voted for Yoder’s Democratic opponent Sharice Davids, a lesbian Native American former mixed martial arts fighter the GOP vowed would have no appeal to moderate members of their party disaffected by Trump.

“The one thing that probably kept me from the Democrats was my own religious and moral belief, and being against abortion,” said Poulos, who grew up in a Republican household in Cleveland. “But the older I get the more I realize that being pro-life means a lot more than being anti-abortion. It means taking care of the least among us, being compassionate toward those fleeing Latin American countries and coming to our borders.”

Though Poulos admits she was “surprised” to see Davids win the Democratic nomination, she added: “Johnson County is standing up and presenting a woman who has a really diverse background… I think it’s very brave of us to do that.”

Democrats need a net gain of 23 seats next month to take control of the House. Among their top targets are 25 districts that, like Yoder’s, supported Clinton and a GOP member of Congress in 2016.

A recent CBS News battleground tracker poll found 47 percent of college-educated women in key House districts plan to vote this November in opposition to Trump. Twenty-four percent said they would cast their vote to support the president, while 29 percent say their vote isn’t about Trump.

“I’d like to say that I was very politically savvy all my life, but I probably lived my life in a cloud… when things went well for me and for my family,” said Poulos. “It wasn’t until I realized that the Republican Party of my past was changing, and that was with Donald Trump.”

Asked if any Republican could win back her support for the GOP, Poulos first suggested “bringing [the late 2008 GOP presidential nominee and Arizona Sen.] John McCain back from the dead.

“They need to stand up and not worry about their future in politics, just call Donald Trump on who he is and what he stands for, his ridiculous policies, his lack of care and compassion… restore our good name in the world,” said Poulos, who this year wrote Kansas GOP Sens. Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran, imploring them to vote against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Both men voted to confirm Kavanaugh.

“Ben Sasse... He’s got some pizazz,” Poulos said of the GOP’s future, referring to a Nebraska senator who vocally opposed Trump during the campaign and after he took office.

“[Maine Sen.] Susan Collins? I’m not quite sure after her speech on Kavanaugh,” she added. ‘[Retiring Arizona Sen.] Jeff Flake is gone isn’t he? [Alaska Sen.] Lisa Murkowski, what about her?”