DSCC FRIDAY TAKEAWAYS: GOP SENATE CANDIDATES SLAMMED FOR RECORD OPPOSING REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM ON ROE REVERSAL ANNIVERSARY, CANDIDATE QUALITY HAUNTS SENATE GOP (STILL), HOVDE “STEPS IN IT”

This week, around the second anniversary of the Republican Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, Democratic Senate candidates and campaigns continued their “blitz,” shining a spotlight on the threat that Republican Senate candidates pose to women’s rights to make their own decisions about their health care. 

• IN THE STATES, DEMS BLANKET LOCAL NEWS BLASTING GOP SENATE CANDIDATES FOR THREATENING REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM  → Across the country, Democrats joined local leaders, health care providers, and voters to highlight how GOP Senate candidates oppose women’s right to make their own health care decisions and stand in lockstep with their party’s dangerous agenda to ban abortion nationwide, without exceptions. See what voters in Senate battlegrounds are watching and reading for yourself. 

• AND DSCC DROPS NEW ADS → The DSCC launched a series of ads to reach voters in 10 states (AZ, FL, MD, MI, MT, NV, OH, PA, TX, and WI) on lifestyle, fashion, beauty and recipe websites popular among women highlighting GOP Senate candidates’ attacks on reproductive freedoms. 

• The ads direct voters to the DSCC’s website GOPonAbortion.com. Read the coverage here.

DEMS SPEAK OUT → 

• 📣 DSCC Chair Senator Gary Peters: “Every Republican Senate candidate poses a threat to women’s freedoms, rights and health – and that’s one of the most important reasons voters will reject GOP candidates and protect Democrats’ Senate majority in November.” 

• 📣 DSCC Vice Chair Smith on Andrea Mitchell Reports: “On the issue of reproductive freedom, we’re just a day past the commemoration of the loss of Roe and what impact that’s had on women’s lives, people’s lives in this country, and in every single case, our candidates are on the side of fighting for reproductive freedom. And the Republican candidates have all opposed women’s freedom to make their own decisions about their health care.” 

• 📣  DSCC Communications Director on The Laura Coates Show: “Every Republican Senate candidate is on record, on video threatening women’s reproductive freedom. And so as long as they are on the ballot, a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions is going to be under threat, and that’s why they’re going to be defeated in November.” 

SENATE REPUBLICANS ARE “GETTING CORNERED BY THEIR OWN WORDS” AFTER “PUTTING ABORTION…IN HARM’S WAY” → Talking Points Memo published a scathing article detailing how NRSC Chair Steve Daines and Republican Senate candidates are “shrouded in hypocrisy” as their records of “putting abortion…in harm’s way” “catch up to them.” 

EVEN MORE COVERAGE: 

• American Journal News: Ohio Republican Bernie Moreno opposes bill protecting birth control access.
  
• Wisconsin voter in Up North News: Hovde’s anti-abortion record shows the importance of re-electing Tammy Baldwin to protect reproductive freedom.
  
• WESH 2 NEWS: Scott was a nay vote on the measure to protect access to birth control, “no one would look at his voting record and proposals and say he’s all in on IVF.” 

SENATE REPUBLICANS’ REPRO HYPOCRISY LAID BARE → While “Senate Republicans blocked a bill to protect birth control access, claiming the bill was unnecessary” due to existing protections, the American Journal News detailed this week that “law is a part of the Affordable Care Act, which many of these same Republicans have tried to repeal.” 

THIS WEEK’S DEVELOPMENTS IN THE GOP’S CANDIDATE QUALITY QUAGMIRE: 

• MONTANANS’ PROPERTY TAXES GO ⬆,  SHEEHY USES COMPANY EMPLOYEE TO MAKE HIS GO ⬇  → Reporting from The Montana Independent reveals that Tim “Sheehy filed a successful appeal of the valuation of his multimillion-dollar vacation property in Big Sky, saving tens of thousands of dollars” while “many Montanans are struggling to pay soaring property taxes.” 

• SAM BROWN PROPOSED INTEREST RATE HIKE SO HIGH “IT COULD HAVE THROWN THE U.S. INTO A RECESSION.” .  → A new piece by the Nevadan reveals Brown “pitched raising interest rates so high it could have thrown the US into a recession.”  

• MCCORMICK BETS AGAINST AMERICAN STEEL → Reporting from Keystone Newsroom revealed that David McCormick’s firm “Bridgewater Associates was betting on the demise of American owned steel companies” “when McCormick was the firm’s CEO,” profiting when US Steel companies “los[t] money and perform[ed] badly.”

• HOVDE “STEPS IN IT WHILE TALKING BLACK CULTURE” → Eric Hovde’s  “gaffe-prone” campaign is fielding new “mockery” after Hovde made offensive comments at a Juneteenth event, saying he’s “spent a lot of time in Black culture … in places like Africa … I have homeless shelters for abandoned kids,” MSNBC and multiple outlets reported.

• 📣  Michelle Bryant on WNOV: “The ignorance of this candidate saying… and I hope they challenged him and/or clowned him. ‘I know Black people because I’ve been to Africa. I know Black people because I’ve run homeless shelters.’ What?”

• HOVDE SAYS HE “IS ANTI-CHINA. HIS FAMILY TRIED TO BUILD WATER PARKS THERE.”→ The Daily Beast found that while Hovde takes “a tough stance on China” on the campaign trail, “corporation records show” his family business tried “to launch an investment vehicle there.” 

• HOVDE: “A WALKING CONFLICT OF INTEREST” → The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported this week that Eric Hovde refuses to “[say] if he’ll divest his share of Sunwest Bank if elected to the Senate”, which “could lead to huge conflicts of interest.” 

“HOGAN CONSISTENTLY OPPOSED EFFORTS TO CURB GUN VIOLENCE” → Reporting from the American Journal News exposed GOP candidate Larry Hogan’s “history of opposing gun control efforts.” 

AND HOGAN HANGS WITH HIS “ANTI-ABORTION” PALS → Hogan held a fundraiser with “anti-choice” Governor Brian Kemp and former Senator Kelly Loeffler just one day after the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that struck down abortion rights, The Washington Examiner reports, saying Kemp is the “the latest anti-choice Republican to rally behind Hogan.” 

KARI’S CRONY CREW WANT TO “LYNCH” ELECTION OFFICIALS → MSNBC reported that a “MAGA activist tied to Kari Lake ponders ‘lynching’ election official.” 

WHAT SENATE REPUBLICANS ARE PLANNING (CUTS TO PROGRAMS LIKE MEDICARE) → New reporting from The Hill detailed Senate Republicans’ legislative agenda for if they gain control of the Senate:

• “Senate Republicans hoping to win full control of Congress and the White House are crafting an ambitious legislative package.” 

• Giving handouts to the ultra-wealthy and big corporations that are getting rich by keeping prices high is “Topping the list.”

• “Most Republicans want to go further, floating cuts to mandatory government spending” – which includes programs like Medicare. 

ADD IT TO THE QUEUE → 

• Senator Bob Casey released a new TV ad, “Simple,” highlighting Dave McCormick’s dangerous anti-choice agenda and support for a national abortion ban. 

• Senator Sherrod Brown released his latest ad, “Unique”, talking about how he’s “always been a voice for Ohio.” 

IN THE STATES → 

• PA: YourErie: US Sen. Bob Casey rallies for labor rights in Erie with ‘On Our Side Road Trip’

• MT: Flathead Beacon: Northwest Montana Veterans Applaud Tester During Kalispell Campaign Stop

• OH: Spectrum News 1: Sen. Sherrod Brown announces $19.5 million investment in two Cleveland trails

• NV: Las Vegas Sun: Sen. Rosen: 2 years after Roe fell, reproductive freedom on ballot

TWEET OF THE WEEK → 

David Bergstein 
@DavidABergstein

Amanda Sherman Baity
@asherman89 

Maeve Coyle 
@maevemcoyle 

Tommy Garcia 
@Tommy_D_Garcia

Annie Lentz
@AnnieElise6

Emily Benson 
@emilyrbensonn

Julia Ferrara 
@JuliaFerrara22