Pro-GOP super PAC AFP Action launches $10 million ad campaign against Democratic senators

A contemporary spherical of assault adverts against Democratic U.S. Senate candidates is hitting the airwaves in a number of aggressive races, designed to lift doubts about their help for one in every of President Biden’s prime legislative accomplishments.

AFP Action, one of many largest pro-GOP super PACs supporting congressional candidates, is launching a $10 million tv and digital ad campaign against Democratic senators Jon Tester of Montana, Jacky Rosen of Nevada, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Rep. Elisa Slotkin of Michigan, who’s operating for her state’s open U.S. Senate seat.

Tester and Brown are probably the most weak Democratic incumbents of the cycle, whereas the others stay in costly and carefully watched aggressive races, regardless of latest polling displaying them pacing forward of their Republican rivals. 

Most of the adverts name out the candidates for supporting the Inflation Reduction Act, a $1.2 trillion piece of laws handed in 2022. AFP Action argues the measure prices the common American household roughly an extra $1,000 each month as a result of the federal spending licensed by the act sparked an increase in costs that has solely began to abate in latest months.

The ad targeting Casey, for instance, faults him for voting for Mr. Biden’s priorities “98% of the time” and contributing to elevated costs brought on by inflation. It then urges viewers to help Dave McCormick, his Republican opponent. 

Casey has argued the laws helps minimize health-care associated prices, noting earlier this year that “80,200 Pennsylvanians on Medicare Part B and D are paying at most $35 a month for insulin, and 346,000 Pennsylvanians are paying hundreds of dollars less for health care Marketplace premiums.”

The ad targeting Brown calls out his almost 30 years in elected workplace and says his vote for the act “drove inflation higher, forcing Buckeye families to pay nearly $1,000 more per month for everyday essentials. Sherrod Brown let us down.” It buoys “first-generation American Bernie Moreno,” his GOP rival. 

Brown has defended his vote for the measure, noting it is saved his constituents cash in health-care and power prices and that the federal funding in Ohio ought to assist spur new jobs. 

“These Senators drove our economy over a cliff by voting in lockstep with the Biden-Harris administration’s far-left progressive agenda, and now they want a do-over,” mentioned AFP Action Director Nathan Nascimento. 

AFP Action is the political arm of Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group that famously bucked former president Donald Trump final yr and endorsed former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s presidential bid. But the group dropped its help for her in February and shifted its focus to congressional races. The group says it is engaged in additional than 500 federal contests this yr. 

This new suite of promoting is however a small a part of a whole lot of thousands and thousands of {dollars} set to be spent by numerous exterior super PACs in help of Democratic and Republican congressional candidates, on prime of the a whole lot of thousands and thousands already earmarked to be spent on the presidential campaign. Most of the ad time was reserved within the spring at decrease charges in anticipation of a cluttered political ad market this fall.  

Ed O’Keefe

Ed O’Keefe is CBS News senior White House and political correspondent. He beforehand labored for The Washington Post protecting presidential campaigns, Congress and federal companies. His main focus is on President Biden, Vice President Harris and political points throughout the nation.