February 4, 2022 Press Releases

DSCC FRIDAY TAKEAWAYS: DEMOCRATIC SENATORS OUTRAISE OPPONENTS – NEW PUNCHES IN PA GOP CHINA FISTFIGHT – GEORGIA LEADERS DENOUNCE WALKER

MONEY TALKS: DEM SENATORS AMASS “FUNDRAISING FIREWALL,” OUTRAISE CHALLENGERS. News coverage this week highlighted Senate Democrats’ “record-breaking war chests” as they “raised enormous sums” in Q4 and head “toward this fall’s midterms in a strong position” to protect and expand our majority. See for yourself:

Bloomberg: Democrats have one major advantage… to maintain control of the Senate after November elections: cold, hard cash.

CNN: Democratic incumbents in the Senate have raised enormous sums and head into the midterms with massive war chests.

Axios: Individual Senate Democrats are heading toward this fall’s midterms in a strong position… outraising their respective challengers in key states.

National Journal: Democratic incumbents have amassed record-breaking war chests in the off-year.

TEAM EFFORT: $15 MILLION INFUSION TO DEMOCRATIC CAMPAIGN COMMITTEES. The “largest-ever midterm cash transfer” from the DNC authorized this week by President Biden will help Democrats protect and expand our Senate Majority.

→ DSCC Chair Senator Gary Peters: “President Biden understands the stakes of this midterm election — if Republicans take the Senate, they’ll push the agenda of the ultra-wealthy and big corporations at the expense of working Americans. I’m thankful for his strong support of Senate Democrats and look forward to continuing our work together to protect and expand our Senate majority.”

REPUBLICAN SENATORS’ OFFENSIVE SCOTUS COMMENTS REINFORCE MIDTERM STAKES. Republican Senators’ repeated attacks on the first Black woman to be nominated to the Supreme Court – including Sen. Kennedy’s offensive “J. Crew catalog” remark, Sen. Wicker’s suggestion that the nominee will be the “beneficiary” of affirmative action, and Sen. Collins’ hypocritical comments – show just how low the GOP will go as they oppose Democrats’ Supreme Court nominee.

→ DSCC STATEMENT: “Senate Republicans continue to smear a Supreme Court nominee who has yet to be named because of the color of her skin. These offensive and hypocritical comments show the GOP will stop at nothing as they oppose Democrats’ Supreme Court nominee. Protecting Roe v. Wade and so many other issues Americans care so deeply about are all on the line, and these kinds of comments from Republican Senators only reinforce the importance of protecting and expanding Democrats’ Senate Majority with the power to confirm Supreme Court justices.”

PA GOP PRIMARY “TURNS UGLY EARLY” AS MCCORMICK, OZ TRADE BLOWS OVER CHINA. A wave of reports this week are highlighting “new punches” between Mehmet Oz and David McCormick as the candidates trade fire over their ties to China and dig in for what is already guaranteed to be a “long and bruising fight” in Pennsylvania’s “crowded” and “increasingly combustible” GOP primary.

→ CNN: PENNSYLVANIA SENATE REPUBLICAN RACE BETWEEN OZ AND MCCORMICK TURNS UGLY EARLY. “In the Pennsylvania Senate race, one candidate is accusing a rival of having ‘dual loyalties’ to the US and a foreign country. In turn, that rival is charging his opponent with being too cozy with China. But these aren’t candidates from opposing parties. They are hedge-fund executive David McCormick and… Mehmet Oz, two of the leading contenders for the Republican nomination.”

“Without a clear primary preference from either Trump or Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, the Oz and McCormick teams are preparing to engage in a war of attrition.”
The back-and-forth between Oz and McCormick and their allies is only the beginning of what’s to come in Pennsylvania over the next few months, said Dent… ‘These ads will be about as subtle as a crowbar across the bridge of the nose.’”

→ FOX NEWS: NEW PUNCHES IN CHINA FISTFIGHT BETWEEN DR. OZ AND DAVID MCCORMICK. “China is smack in the middle of the campaign spotlight in the increasingly combustible Republican Senate primary in battleground Pennsylvania… As McCormick, a former hedge fund executive, jumped into the increasingly crowded primary race last month, his former hedge fund’s considerable investments in China instantly came under scrutiny.”

→ POLITICO: DR. OZ IS RUNNING AS A CHINA HAWK. IT’S A BIT OF A STRETCH. “Mehmet Oz, whose Pennsylvania Senate campaign against David McCormick is focused on the former hedge fund CEO’s China ties, has his own close relationship with the country that helped net him and his TV show millions of dollars.”

GEORGIA BUSINESS OWNERS, LEADERS DENOUNCE WALKER OVER QUESTIONABLE BUSINESS PRACTICES: “SHAMEFUL,” “DISGUSTED.” Georgia elected leaders and business owners held a press conference on Tuesday slamming Herschel Walker after 11Alive revealed that one of his business interests took millions in pandemic relief loans while laying off 90% of its employees – even though Walker “mocked businesses that took PPP money.”

WATCH – 11Alive: GA Leaders, Business Owners Denounce Walker

WATCH – WSAV: Democrats call out Herschel Walker on business practices, COVID misinformation

READ – Georgia Democrats: Georgia Business Owners and Leaders Hold Press Conference Calling Out Herschel Walker’s Questionable Business Practices

IT ALL BEGS THE QUESTION… “HOW MANY TIMES CAN HERSCHEL WALKER FUMBLE BEFORE HE’S BENCHED?” As the real Herschel Walker continues to come into focus – a fraud with a record of shadowy, dishonest business practices – it’s “starting to become clear why Herschel Walker’s campaign team has tried to limit his public appearances and media interviews.”

MSNBC: “CNN noted in September, ‘Walker’s schedule keeps him largely behind closed doors.’ We’re occasionally reminded why.”

“THE LAXALT TAPES” – BIG LIE PROPONENT LAXALT WALKING “RIGGED ELECTION TIGHTROPE.” New audio obtained by NBC News reveals how Adam Laxalt – who tried and failed to overturn Nevada’s 2020 election results – continues to promote lies about election fraud on the campaign trail with one glaring exception: in GOP-rich rural counties, he’s saying votes are safe. The highwire, tightrope act perfectly encapsulates the problem Laxalt and other Republicans running for Senate like Ron Johnson will have as they try to convince voters to turn out while simultaneously feeding them lies that their votes won’t be counted.

NBC News: Adam Laxalt walks ‘rigged election’ tightrope in Nevada Senate campaign. “Laxalt’s tightrope walk — casting suspicion on the integrity of an election won by President Joe Biden in 2020 while seeking to allay concerns prompted by those claims to a select audience — provides an early window into the challenges for Republicans campaigning in the era of what former President Donald Trump’s critics have come to call the ‘Big Lie.’”
HuffPost: GOP Senate Contenders Tell Rural Counties Their Votes Count, Unlike In Urban Counties. “Scaring people about supposed election fraud isn’t a great strategy for motivating them to vote… Now, some Republican Senate contenders are seeking to avoid that calamity in their races by absurdly claiming that only urban Democratic areas experience voter fraud, whereas rural GOP counties are perfectly safe from it.”
WATCH: MSNBC’s Chris Hayes and Morning Joe on Laxalt’s Tightrope Act

WISCONSIN PARENTS BLAST RO-JO FOR REFUSING TO LOWER CHILD CARE COSTS. After millionaire, self-serving politician Ron Johnson faced scrutiny last week for not wanting to help families afford child care, Wisconsin parents held a virtual press call slamming the Senator for his remarks – and for his repeated failure to work on behalf of Wisconsinites.

WATCH – WJFW: WI Parents Blast Johnson for Child Care Comments

“UNSETTLED IN ARIZONA” – GOP PRIMARY HEATS UP IN THE DESERT. Arizona’s chaotic, nasty primary is about to get a whole lot messier as Club for Growth prepares to go on the attack on behalf of Blake Masters. Leaked audio from Masters reveals that he is “staying in” no matter what – ensuring this primary will be long, chaotic, and expensive.

→ Read more from Arizona Democrats on this “Already Hot Mess of an AZ Senate Primary.”

MARK YOUR CALENDARS – “COMPETITIVE, CHAOTIC” OHIO GOP SENATE PRIMARY 3 MONTHS AWAY. The Buckeye GOP Senate primary has it all – $30 million in self-funding, nasty attacks, and a field playing to an audience of one as they desperately seek Trump’s endorsement. Whoever emerges from the field will be badly bruised entering the general.

NBC News: Competitive, chaotic Ohio GOP Senate primary is just three months away. “It has it all: money, the Donald Trump x-factor, a shifting battleground and control of the Senate sitting on a knife’s edge.”

TARHEEL TROUBLE: FALLOUT FOR MCCRORY AFTER OFFENSIVE COMMENTS. Local leaders across North Carolina called out Pat McCrory this week after CNN reported that he compared getting passed over for a job at Duke University to Black Americans’ experiences at lunch counters in the 1960s during segregation. Read more from the NCDP here.

JUST THIS WEEK, THANKS TO SENATE DEMOCRATS:

→ Hassan Touts NH Funding From Democrats’ Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. Senator Hassan was in Portsmouth on Monday to highlight $1.6 million in federal funding coming to the area – money that will help ease strain on supply chains and create good paying jobs.

Portsmouth Herald: ‘Bigger ships, faster delivery’: NH Port Authority gets $1.6M for the basin. Why it matters. “As the country and the world are dealing with supply chain issues, to be able to have bigger ships, bigger loads, faster delivery, all [this] is a piece of really trying to address some of those issues,” said Hassan. “

IN THE STATES:

AZ – KTAR: Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona crushing Republican field in fundraising“The incumbent racked up nearly $9 million in contributions over the last three months of 2021 – his second consecutive quarter with more than $8 million – and had more than $18.6 million cash on hand. Kelly’s campaign spent about $3.3 million from October through December and doesn’t have to worry about a primary contest.”

CO – Colorado Sun: Some Colorado congressional candidates received federal financial help during COVID crisis. “Businesses owned by Republican U.S. Senate candidates Joe O’Dea and Gino Campana received significant federal coronavirus loans. The two have criticized spending by congressional Democrats.”

FL – WTLV: Demonstrators want Sen. Marco Rubio to work with politicians to extend child tax credit. “Activists want Senator Marco Rubio to work with congressional leaders… ‘We wanted to explain that there is a desperate need to help poor people in the state of Florida,’ Frazier said.”

NV – Las Vegas Review Journal: Cortez Masto has significant fundraising edge in key US Senate race. “Democratic U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto entered 2022 with more than four times as much money on hand as the entire GOP field trying to unseat her.”

TWEET OF THE WEEK: