August 23, 2024 Press Releases

DSCC FRIDAY TAKEAWAYS: DSCC CHAIR PETERS SPOTLIGHTS “FLAWED REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES” AT DNC, SELF-SERVING SCOTT SLUMPS INTO GENERAL ELECTION

THE SURPRISE SPECIAL GUEST IS…THE STARK CANDIDATE QUALITY CONTRASTS IN SENATE RACES → This week at the Democratic National Convention, Senate Republicans’ candidate quality problem was buzzing around the DNC.

OVERHEARD AT DSCC PANEL DISCUSSION: “WE HAVE SUPERIOR DEMOCRATIC INCUMBENTS AND CANDIDATES RUNNING AGAINST FLAWED REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES” → The DSCC hosted a panel discussion with DSCC Chair Senator Gary Peters, Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, and Senator Rev. Raphael Warnock on why candidate quality will “be a deciding factor” in Senate races as “great [Democratic Senate] candidates” run “against Republican candidates who are flawed” and who hold “unpopular positions on issues like abortion.” See more coverage here.

DSCC CHAIR PETERS HIGHLIGHTS CONTRAST BETWEEN “STRONG DEMOCRATIC INCUMBENTS AND CANDIDATES VERSUS” “HIGHLY FLAWED REPUBLICANS” → Throughout the week, DSCC Chair Senator Peters highlighted the stark contrast between “great Democratic incumbents and candidates” and “flawed Republican candidates” and why Senate Democrats are “going to be very successful on Election Day.” See more coverage here.

Sen. Peters on MSNBC’s Morning Joe: The great news is that right now all of our candidates in these states are doing very well. That’s because they’re basically candidate versus candidate contrasts. We have got great Democratic incumbents and candidates versus highly flawed Republicans that are running and that difference is showing up in the polls.

SELF-SERVING SCOTT SLUMPS INTO GENERAL ELECTION →

LEADING THE NEWS: “RICK SCOTT DIALS UP ELECTION DENIALISM” → Axios Tampa Bay reports that Rick Scott is adding to his “long history of election denialism” with “claims of widespread fraud” while his campaign refuses to confirm “whether Scott intends to accept the outcome of the 2024 election.”

SCOTT ABANDONS “HURRICANE-RAVAGED FLORIDA” TO RUB ELBOWS WITH WEALTHY DONORS → The American Journal News reports that Rick Scott left “hurricane-ravaged Florida to fundraise and campaign for Trump” on his “private jet” “mere hours after…tour[ing] hurricane wreckage.”

FLORIDA DEMS SLAM SCOTT → After the Senate primary, Florida Democrats hammered Rick Scott for his “self-serving agenda: banning abortion nationwide, ripping away seniors’ Social Security and Medicare, and raising taxes on the middle class while cutting taxes for corporations and the wealthy like himself.”

See more about Rick Scott’s toxic, self-serving agenda.

📣 WEST PHILADELPHIA VOTERS: “I’M NOT FOR DAVE MCCORMICK” → The DSCC released a new digital ad in the Pennsylvania Senate race this week, “Salon,” featuring Pennsylvania women discussing David McCormick’s record of opposing women’s reproductive freedom, even in cases of rape or incest. Watch the ad for yourself.

📰 MONTANANS FEELING ALIVE FOR BETTER MAN TESTER → MISSOULA CURRENT: TESTER, PEARL JAM BASSIST AMENT DISCUSS MT VALUES, CHALLENGES

…MEANWHILE, SHEEHY FACES THE MUSIC WITH ANOTHER WEEK OF BAD PRESS HE WON’T SOON FORGET →

SHADY SHEEHY’S BIG SKY-SIZED LIE → Reporting from HuffPost this week exposes “the big lie in the Montana Senate race” and explains how Tim Sheehy’s top TV ad validator who claimed that Sheehy “opposes the…transfer of our public lands” went on the record and “plainly stated that he wants to see federal lands transferred to states, a view he understood Sheehy to share.”

SHEEHY “CRITICIZES…INITIATIVE TO PROTECT ABORTION” DRIVEN BY MONTANANS → The Daily Montanan reports that Tim Sheehy criticized an “initiative to protect abortion” in the state “after making a claim about the medical procedure earlier found to be false.”

SHEEHY PUTS PERSONAL PROFIT OVER MONTANANS’ PRIVACY → The Heartland Signal reports that Tim Sheehy “worked to kill a pair of drone privacy bills in the state legislature while he profited off developing and contracting drone technology to the federal government.” Around the same time, Sheehy was courting business with a “Chinese tech company…[that] admitted in 2016 that it was complying with the Chinese government to hand over data collected by its drones.”

WHO’S SIGNING SAM BROWN’S CHECKS? HINT: THEY’RE “CONNECTED TO PROJECT 2025” → The Nevada Current reports that Sam Brown appears to be “aligned with Project 2025,” finding that “Federal Election Commission data shows Republican Sam Brown…has received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from several leaders of think tanks connected to Project 2025.”

MEOW NEGATIVE COVERAGE FOR FAT CAT MORENO 👎 →

MORENO’S “SELF-MADE” FABLE FALLS APART UNDER SPOTLIGHT OF HIS “POWERFUL POLITICAL AND FINANCIAL CONNECTIONS” → Reporting by Mother Jones pulls apart Moreno’s phony “up-by-the-bootstraps tale,” detailing his “powerful political and financial connections in Colombia,” his “much-needed handout[s],” “special favors,” and a “sweetheart deal” from family connections that helped make him “enormously rich,” all while facing “more than a dozen claims of wage theft.”

MORENO “ENDORSED THE EXTENSION OF A TAX PLAN” TO HELP “WEALTHY AMERICANS LIKE HIMSELF” → The American Journal News reports that “Bernie Moreno has endorsed the extension of a tax plan that primarily benefits wealthy Americans like himself.” The report goes on to clarify that his “assertion that extending the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would reduce the national debt is incorrect.”

MORENO’S “STRICT ANTI-ABORTION AGENDA” OUT-OF-LINE WITH “OHIO’S VOTER-APPROVED PROTECTIONS” → New reporting from TiffinOhio.net details how Bernie Moreno is facing “increasing backlash for his staunch anti-abortion views,” “his commitment to a strict anti-abortion agenda,” and “support for a federal ban” that is a “stark contrast to the Ohio voters who overwhelmingly supported reproductive rights in last year’s general election.”

MTV, WELCOME TO MEGA-MILLIONAIRE MORENO‘S FIVE (!) NEW CRIBS → The Ohio Capital Journal reports that “despite criticizing [the] economy, Ohio GOP U.S. Sen. nominee Moreno bought five homes last year.” The report details that Moreno would “be among the wealthiest men serving in Congress,” making him “a person far removed from the kind of concerns his supporters express.”

🎂 KARI LAKE’S BIRTHDAY PRESENT: MORE OPPOSITION FROM HER OWN PARTY →

LAKE IS “ANTI-CHOICE, ANTI-WOMAN, [AND] ANTI-FREEDOM” → Sam Campana, the first female Scottsdale Mayor and “lifelong Republican,” slammed Lake in the Scottsdale Independent, writing that she “cannot support Kari Lake and her anti-choice, anti-woman, anti-freedom plans for Arizona.”

WITH LAKE’S CAMPAIGN FLOUNDERING, THE GOP ISN’T THROWING ANY “LIFELINE”… → The Arizona Republic writes that while Lake is “behind in money and the polls,” there are “few signs of a major lifeline from GOP-aligned groups” for Lake’s Senate campaign as Republicans have a “unique skepticism” about her candidacy.

…NOT EVEN A PADDLE → The Arizona Republic also reports that “Lake is getting basically stiffed by national Republican groups” who “just don’t like Kari Lake.”

THE HOVDE PLAYBOOK ON INSULTING WISCONSINITES (VOLUME I) → Eric Hovde made comments “imply[ing] that he has nothing good to say about female voters or women,” adding to a long list of “disparaging comments [that] has become a subject of discussion,” the Heartland Signal reports.

THE HOVDE PLAYBOOK ON INSULTING WISCONSINITES (VOLUME II) → Axios’ Stephen Neukam reports on comments from Eric Hovde saying that “he knows Black culture because he ‘lived in D.C. for 20 years.’” Neukam goes on to detail that this comes after Hovde “said he knows Black culture because he spent ‘a lot of time’ in Africa and because he runs ‘homeless shelters for abandoned kids.’”

LOCAL UNION LEADERS SLAM THE REVOLVIN’ DOOR ON ROGERS → Union leaders and veterans in Michigan slammed Mike Rogers, saying since he “left Congress almost 10 years ago, his record has shown he’s more interested in enriching himself and big corporations than he is working for Michiganders,” Fox17 reports.

MARYLANDERS “CAN’T SUPPORT HOGAN WITH ABORTION RIGHTS ON THE LINE” → Local commentary from the Baltimore Sun calls out Republican Larry Hogan, saying “there is no possibility that Hogan won’t succumb to Trump’s pressure and give the Republicans control of the Senate” and that Marylanders “can’t support Hogan with abortion rights on the line.”

FACT CHECK CORNER →

✅ TRUE (THE MCCORMICK EDITION) → A WGAL fact-check found that “the Casey campaign’s specific claim that McCormick invested in China’s biggest fentanyl producer is true.”

❌ FALSE (THE HOVDE EDITION) → The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found that Eric Hovde made false claims about Senator Tammy Baldwin’s record on fentanyl, clarifying that “Baldwin has been outspoken about her work to address the growing number of issues with opioids in the state, including fentanyl.”

❌ FALSE (THE CRUZ EDITION) → LoneStar Live fact-checked Ted Cruz’s record on abortion, finding that “Cruz introduced a 20-week federal abortion ban in Congress” and “said he did not support exceptions to abortion bans for rape and incest.” The report also debunked Cruz’s claims that “Texans do not support efforts to repeal the state’s near-total abortion ban.”

❌ FALSE (THE BROWN EDITION) → Politifact confirmed they “found no evidence” supporting Sam Brown’s claim that Senator Jacky Rosen “said ending taxes on tips would ‘hurt working Nevada families.’” Concluding, “Our review of Rosen’s statements found Brown’s characterization to be wrong and misleading.”

ADD IT TO THE QUEUE →

Ruben Gallego’s campaign released a new ad, “Controlling Women,” highlighting how MAGA politicians like Kari Lake are banning the right to an abortion, even in places like Arizona.

Bob Casey’s campaign released a new ad, “Greedflation,” highlighting his commitment to lowering costs for Pennsylvania families by taking on greedy corporations that are jacking up prices on Pennsylvanians.

Jacky Rosen’s campaign launched a new Spanish-language TV and digital ad, “Ha Estado Allí,” highlighting her own work as a waitress when she was younger and how she’s now working with both parties in the Senate to pass legislation that would eliminate federal income taxes on tips.