A group aligned with the Democratic Party is running new digital ads in a pair of potential Senate battlegrounds, criticizing the GOP-approved tax law as “rigged for the wealthy.”
The new ads in Pennsylvania and Michigan follows existing digital campaigns in Ohio, North Dakota, Florida, Nevada, Arizona, Montana, Indiana, Wisconsin, West Virginia, and Missouri — part of an effort from the nonprofit group Majority Forward to push back on tax-law spending from Republican-aligned groups, including those backed by the political network of Charles and David Koch.
All of those states, with the exception of Nevada and Arizona, feature a Democratic incumbent up for re-election this fall, most in states Donald Trump won in 2016. Nevada and Arizona are considered the strongest pickup opportunities for Democrats this year.
The digital programs in Pennsylvania and Michigan are each backed a five-figure buy, according to a spokesman for the group. Majority Forward plans to spend six-figures on the dozen states combined. The ads themselves accuse the Kochs of reaping billions from the new law while leaving the nation in debt.
“The more voters learn about the consequences of giving billionaires like the Koch brothers a tax break the worse it will be for Republican Senate candidates,” said Chris Hayden, Majority Forward spokesman. “The vote on the tax bill is a litmus test of whose side you are on. Democrats opposed the tax giveaway for the Koch brothers because it was not focused on the middle class, and as predicted, plans to cut Medicare and Social Security quickly followed. Republicans supported the tax giveaway because they don’t care about the national debt, and they don’t care about real relief for middle-class families.”
GOP-aligned groups, including the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity, have spent millions of dollars targeting Democratic incumbents up for re-election, including Sens. Claire McCaskill in Missouri and Joe Donnelly in Indiana.