May 27, 2022 Press Releases

DSCC FRIDAY TAKEAWAYS: SENATE DEMS MOURN UVALDE VICTIMS, WALKER’S WEAK WEEK , ROJO JETS AWAY WITH TAXPAYER DOLLARS, PENNSYLVANIA GOP SPLIT ON CANDIDATE

SENATE DEMOCRATS’ HEARTS ARE WITH UVALDE VICTIMS

WARNOCK READY TO KEEP FIGHTING FOR ALL GEORGIANS. In just one year as Senator, Reverend Warnock has been fighting to get results on issues that matter to all Georgians like lowering costs, improving our supply chains, and making health care more affordable.

MEMO: Georgia Voters Have Clear Choice Between Reverend Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker

DSCC JOINS DPG TO LAUNCH COORDINATED CAMPAIGN “GEORGIA VOTES” The Democratic Party of Georgia announced the launch of its Coordinated Campaign, “Georgia Votes,” a unified statewide campaign focused on organizing and mobilizing communities across Georgia to elect Democrats up and down the ballot in 2022. Georgia Votes will work to re-elect Reverend Raphael Warnock to the U.S. Senate.

ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: WITH TOP NOMINEES IN PLACE, GEORGIA DEMOCRATS LAUNCH UNIFIED 2022 CAMPAIGN. “The ‘Georgia Votes’ coordinated campaign is set to be the largest ever for a midterm election in a year with races for U.S. Senate and governor up for grabs, officials say, and it comes as Democrats look to re-energize the multiracial coalition that powered the party’s 2020 victories.”

GEORGIA DEMOCRATS LAUNCH “HERSCHEL WALKER: WRONG FOR GEORGIA.” The Democratic Party of Georgia is rolling out “Herschel Walker: Wrong for Georgia,” which will highlight for Georgians that the Trump-tapped nominee is not who he says he is and not up for the job of representing Georgia in the U.S. Senate. Read more here.

NBC NEWS: Georgia Democrats signal brutal ad campaign against Herschel Walker as high-stakes Senate race begins. “In a hostile welcome to the general election, the Democratic Party of Georgia released a web video featuring a montage of TV news clips and torn-from-the-headlines controversies about Walker’s past and present — from campaign finance issues to his questioning of evolution to exaggerations about his education to questionable health products and a dubious mist he promoted as a Covid cure.”

WALKER STUMBLES INTO THE GENERAL WITH BIZARRE RESPONSE TO TEXAS TRAGEDY. Herschel Walker’s bizarre proposal to create a new federal department to monitor people’s social media in response to the Uvalde tragedy dominated the first week of the general election – and demonstrated yet again he’s not ready for the work of representing Georgia in the Senate.

Atlanta Journal Constitution: Herschel Walker‘s response to Texas shootings reflects on his own history with guns. “Twice in recent days Walker has fumbled questions on gun control: In one interview he seemed to suggest monitoring young people’s social media activity, and in another he dodged the question altogether.”

Rolling Stone: Herschel Walker’s Response to the Uvalde Shooting Was Incoherent. So Is His Senate Bid. “The hollow incoherence on display here is sadly typical of the man.”

Washington Examiner: Herschel Walker fumbles response to gun control questions. “Georgia’s GOP Senate nominee Herschel Walker fumbled two responses to questions about his stance on guncontrol this week in the aftermath of a shooting at a Texas elementary school.”

DON’T MISS → AP: Herschel Walker’s ties to veterans program face scrutiny.

JOHNSON FLIES AWAY WITH TAXPAYER DOLLARS AND LANDS IN HOT WATER. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel revealed that Sen. Ron Johnson “has been using taxpayer dollars to cover the cost of flights between a Florida family vacation home and Washington, D.C., including nine such trips last year.”

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: Sen. Ron Johnson uses tax dollars to travel between Florida family home and the U.S. Capitol.
“U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson has been using taxpayer dollars to cover the cost of flights between a Florida family vacation home and Washington, D.C., including nine such trips last year, federal records show.”
“Democrats say the expenditures by the multimillionaire Republican are a waste of public money because they say the trips have nothing to do with his official job representing Wisconsin at the U.S. Capitol.”

… AND ROJO’S STRANGE REACTION TO AMPLIFY THE BAD COVERAGE HIMSELF WAS NOT MISSED 👀

Josh Dawsey, Washington Post (@jdawsey1): don’t think i’ve ever seen an elected official promote and amplify a negative story about themselves quite like this…

Bryan Metzger, Insider (@metzgov): RonJohn using his official-side Twitter account to go after journalists for writing a story about him using taxpayer dollars for personal use

Brian Tyler Cohen, No Lie With BTC (@briantylercohen): No denial though. Thanks for bringing the story to everyone’s attention.

BADGER STATE BILLIONAIRES BACK ROJO WHO HELPED THEM RECEIVE MASSIVE TAX BREAKS. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel revealed that two of Ron Johnson’s campaign donors, who received massive tax breaks as a result of Johnson’s work on the 2017 tax bill, have poured millions into a new Super PAC supporting his campaign.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Billionaires Diane Hendricks and Uihleins pump $3.5 million into new group backing U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson. “The three biggest donors with Wisconsin ties — Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, owners of Uline Inc. in Pleasant Prairie, and Diane Hendricks, co-founder of Beloit-based ABC Supply Co. — are giving big bucks to Wisconsin Truth PAC, a new super PAC backing U.S. Ron Johnson.”

KEYSTONE STATE CLASH CONTINUES AS RECOUNT WARS “SPLIT GOP,” “SPARK BITTER DISPUTE.” As Pennsylvania Republicans are locked in a never-ending intra-party fight Democrats continue to unify behind Lt. Governor John Fetterman. News coverage is highlighting how “Oz and McCormick are still aiming […] at each other” in “a bitter fight,” which has “split the GOP” and is “driving a wedge between Republicans ahead of the general election.”

Philadelphia Inquirer: Court battles over ballots in the McCormick-Oz Pennsylvania Senate race have split the GOP. “The national and state Republican parties vowed Tuesday to oppose GOP Senate candidate David McCormick in his lawsuit seeking to have potentially hundreds of contested mail ballots counted in his neck-and-neck primary race against Mehmet Oz.”
POLITICO: Mail ballots spark bitter dispute in Pa. GOP Senate race. “The dispute also raises the prospect that Republicans could enter the general election with some party voters feeling that their Senate candidate lost by a technicality. A battle over mail-in ballots is especially fraught for the GOP — awkward, even — in the wake of Trump’s war on the voting method.”
DSCC Statement On Official PA GOP Primary Recount.

LAXALT RAKES IN MILLIONS REPRESENTING BIG OIL DURING HIS SENATE CAMPAIGN. The Nevada Independent uncovered financial documents showing Adam Laxalt has continued to rake in millions of dollars from D.C.-based law firm, Cooper & Kirk, during his Senate campaign. Laxalt has made almost $3 million through his work at the firm since 2018.

Nevada Independent: New disclosure shows Laxalt pulled in $1.5 million this year from private law firm. “The disclosure also shows that Laxalt owns between $1,000 and $15,000 in stock in both the Chinese technology company Tencent and internet retailer Alibaba. The two companies, alongside Chinese tech giant Baidu, were nearly classified as military companies by the Trump administration amid reports they were engaged in espionage and central to the Chinese government’s surveillance apparatus.”

“NEW HAMPSHIRE DEMOCRATS SPOTLIGHT ABORTION ISSUES” IN SENATE RACE. The Hill wrote how New Hampshire Democrats are calling out NH GOP Senate candidates for their anti-choice agenda that include supporting the Supreme Court’s draft decision to end Roe v. Wade – and how they would help Mitch McConnell criminalize abortion nationwide if Republicans retake the Senate. From the article:

“New Hampshire Democrats have particularly zeroed in on comments from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) that a national ban on abortion would be “possible” if Roe v. Wade is overturned.”

“McConnell and Scott will stop at nothing to try to get themselves a senator from New Hampshire who’s going to push their agenda,” New Hampshire state Rep. Alexis Simpson (D) said during a press call. “That’s why we have to elect Sen. Hassan.”

PETER THIEL PUPPET BLAKE MASTERS PROVES HE IS OUT OF TOUCH WITH ARIZONANS. A new POLITICO profile of Arizona Senate GOP Candidate Blake Masters details how he’s an “Acolyte” of Peter Thiel, and “has better connections in Silicon Valley and Washington D.C.” than Arizona.

POLITICO: Tucker Carlson Calls Him the Future of the GOP. First He Has to Get Elected. “Many people in the Republican circle in his hometown of Tucson… haven’t even met him. Despite being raised in Arizona, he has better connections in Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C., than at home.”

JUST THIS WEEK, THANKS TO SENATE DEMOCRATS

New Hampshire Union Leader: Hassan urges getting generic drugs to market faster. “Citing worry about “patents of questionable validity,” Sens. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., are urging closer cooperation between the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Generic drugs are typically cheaper than brand names, but patenting drugs lets drug companies keep generics off the market for several years — in theory, allowing drug companies to recoup the cost of researching and developing a new drug, and make a profit.”

IN THE STATES

AZ – Arizona Republic (Opinion): Brnovich should resign if he won’t do his job and defend Arizona’s early voting program. “Attorney General Mark Brnovich has once again shown us why he has absolutely no business being Arizona’s attorney general. It’s bad enough that the guy has spent most of the last year turning the Attorney General’s Office into a campaign prop in his bid to land a seat in the U.S. Senate. Now he’s refusing to even do his job.”

FL – Miami Herald: Miami Herald: ‘Sick and tired.’ Demings pushes for gun legislation, slams Rubio at Miami rally. “‘I’m sick and tired of innocent people being gunned down in innocent places,’ Demings said, speaking to a crowd of about 50 supporters at the Little Haiti Cultural Center. She called her opponent, Florida’s senior senator, Republican Marco Rubio, a ‘do-nothing senator’ who ‘likes to be comfortable.’ She blasted Republicans for inaction on gun violence legislation like red-flag gun laws and universal background checks.”

FL – Miami Herald (Opinion): Rubio’s flippant attitude after Texas school shooting should cost Florida senator his job. “Rubio should pay for his disdain for our grief and loss — with his job.”

NV – Nevada Current: Adam Laxalt peddles ‘great replacement theory’ on GOP campaign trail. “In audio reviewed by the Current of a campaign meet-and-greet in Elko on Oct. 2, 2021, Laxalt can be heard suggesting immigrants are a part of a strategy by “the left” to destroy American values.”

NH – Seacoast Online (Opinion): If you support reproductive freedom, support Maggie Hassan for U.S. Senate. “The choice in this year’s midterms could not be more clear. The Republican candidates have spent their careers doing everything they can to dismantle women’s freedom, control women’s bodies, and criminalize abortion. Senator Hassan, meanwhile, has fought for New Hampshire women, and backed the Women’s Health Protection Act to make Roe the law of the land. With women’s liberty under siege, it is more urgent than ever that Granite Staters re-elect a fighter like Maggie Hassan to the Senate.”

NC – Charlotte Post (Opinion): Why GOP nominee Ted Budd is wrong for North Carolina in the US Senate. “Throughout his time in Congress, [Budd] has continually added to the gridlock and dysfunction in Washington, D.C. and if given the undeserved promotion to U.S. senator, he will continue to put North Carolina last.”

WI – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Ron Johnson silent on background checks following the Uvalde shooting but pushes bill for a clearinghouse on school safety. “U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson made an effort Wednesday to codify a national clearinghouse on school safety. But the Oshkosh Republican gave no indication if his long opposition to universal background checks for firearm sales had wavered in any way, silently walking away from a CNN reporter in Washington, D.C., when questioned about the issue.”

TWEET OF THE WEEK