March 4, 2022 Press Releases

DSCC FRIDAY TAKEAWAYS: SENATE R’S DOUBLE DOWN ON TAX-HIKE AGENDA – GOP RECRUITMENT FAILURES PILE UP – SENATE DEMS HOLD BIG CORPORATIONS ACCOUNTABLE

SENATE REPUBLICANS’ NO GOOD, VERY BAD WEEK – GOP’S TAX-HIKE PLAN DOMINATES ANOTHER NEWS-CYCLE. For the second straight week, news coverage is blasting Senate Republicans’ unpopular agenda that would raise taxes on seniors and over half of all Americans – all while the GOP pledges to “continue talking about [the] plan” that will “saddle Senate Republicans with a tax hike.”

POLITICO: “Scott is only doubling down on his vision for the GOP agenda… a multi-part GOP agenda that would result in tax increases for tens of millions of Americans.”
Leigh Ann Caldwell (NBC News): “@SenRickScott tells me he ‘absolutely’ stands by his 11-point plan. ‘I also believe that people ought to know what we’re going to do when we get a majority,’ he said.”
Morning Consult: “Only a third of voters support Senate GOP campaign chief’s tax proposal.”
The Hill: “‘Senate Democrats are grateful for Rick Scott’s leadership at the NRSC. He’s exposed Republicans’ plans to raise taxes on seniors and working families along with ending Medicare and Social Security… said David Bergstein, a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.”
READ MORE – DSCC: What They’re Saying: NRSC Chair “Will Continue Talking About” Agenda To Raise Taxes, “Really Wants To Saddle Senate Republicans With A Tax Hike”

YOU’VE GOT MAIL: REPUBLICAN SENATE CANDIDATES OWN THEIR TAX-HIKE PLAN – LITERALLY. Every Republican Senate candidate owns their party’s plan that would raise taxes on millions of seniors and hard working Americans, which is why the DSCC is mailing 24 GOP Senate candidates in key battleground states their party’s midterm agenda – specifically highlighting the section that would raise taxes “on over half of Americans.”

→ McClatchy: Democrats go old school, drop Rick Scott’s controversial ‘rescue’ plan in the mail.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee this week is mailing — literally mailing — a copy of the senator’s plan to two dozen Senate Republican candidates across the country.
Party operatives say they have made only one small alteration to the multi-page proposal, highlighting in yellow marker a passage that says “all Americans should pay some income tax” and attaching a sticky note to the page. Otherwise, they simply printed out the plan, slipped it into an envelope and included the appropriate postage.
“Every Republican Senate candidate owns their party’s plan that would raise taxes on millions of seniors and hard working Americans — which is why we are personally making sure they have a copy,” said Eli Cousin, a DSCC spokesperson, in a statement.

‘NRSC’ STANDS FOR ‘NIGHTMARE RECRUITMENT SCENARIO CONTINUES’ – DUCEY LATEST TO REBUFF MCCONNELL, SCOTT. Doug Ducey’s decision not to run for Senate in Arizona “marks another significant recruiting failure for McConnell and his allies” – leaving Senate Republicans “stuck with several nominees in competitive races who are both far from the American mainstream and difficult to take seriously.” See what they’re saying:

Washington Post: Arizona Gov. Ducey (R) announces he won’t run for Senate, in blow to GOP recruitment effort. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee pointed to Ducey’s decision as a sign that “potential Republican candidates know they cannot defend their party’s disastrous agenda.”
New York Times: Ducey Confirms He Will Not Run for Senate, Despite McConnell’s Wooing. Taken together, the rejections illustrate the difficulty Senate Republicans are having in trying to lure mainstream conservative governors to serve in a party still shadowed by Mr. Trump.
HuffPost: GOP Senate Recruitment Efforts Continue To Fizzle. GOP efforts to recruit more establishment candidates have largely fizzled. Instead, the Republican fields in many battleground states — Arizona, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio and Pennsylvania — are dominated by far-right lurching candidates.

→ DSCC ON DUCEY, RECRUITMENT FAILURES: “Once again, Senate Republicans’ recruitment efforts have failed, and their top potential candidates are refusing to run against strong Democratic Senators like Mark Kelly. While Senate Democrats are fighting to lower costs for American families, potential Republican candidates know they cannot defend their party’s disastrous agenda of raising taxes, ending Medicare and Social Security, and pushing the interests of big corporations and the wealthiest few at the expense of working families.”

→ ARIZONA DEMOCRATIC PARTY ON DUCEY: “Ducey was widely reported to be Mitch McConnell and the NRSC’s best hope to win this Senate seat, and now Washington Republicans are left with what they have admitted is a clown-car of C-list candidates who care more about fighting each other than actually representing Arizonans.”

DSCC LAUNCHES NEW AD “MOST PEOPLE” HIGHLIGHTING STAKES OF 2022. Ahead of the SOTU the DSCC released a new ad highlighting the clear contrast this election: while Senate Democrats are fighting for working families’ most pressing priorities like lowering costs, cutting taxes and rebuilding America – Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans are pushing the agenda of the ultra-wealthy and big corporations that get rich by keeping prices high.

WATCH – “MOST PEOPLE”

AND CNN WITH A DEEP DIVE ON DEMS’ STRATEGY: “SENATE DEMOCRATS WILL LEAD THE CHARGE” IN HOLDING BIG CORPORATIONS ACCOUNTABLE. New reporting from CNN is highlighting the DSCC’s ad and outlining how Senate Democrats’ fight to hold big corporations accountable for raising prices and profiting on the backs of the American people will play a central role in our midterm messaging. Key points:

Senate Democrats will lead the charge in arguing that companies are raising prices while racking up profits — with Trump-era tax breaks passed by Republicans letting the shareholders and the CEOs take home more of that money for themselves than ever before.
“What you’re seeing right now with rising prices is those very companies that received huge tax breaks are actually earning huge profits and they’re increasing their prices,” said Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, the chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. “When you have large corporations actually bragging to their shareholders that they’re able to increase prices, I think that will anger the American people.”

TELEGRAM TAKEOVER – DSCC DIGITAL ADS SLAM JOHNSON FOR OPPOSING INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENTS. With President Biden in Superior to tout the benefits Wisconsin is seeing from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the DSCC launched a digital homepage takeover of the Superior Telegram calling out self-serving Senator Ron Johnson for opposing good-paying jobs and repairing Wisconsin’s roads and bridges.

→ UpNorth News: Biden Coming to Wisconsin to Talk Jobs. Senate Dems Target Johnson for Opposing Them.

When President Joe Biden visits northern Wisconsin on Wednesday, readers who follow the trip via the Superior Telegram will notice… the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) is doing a “digital takeover” of the site, placing a barrage of ads about Biden’s bipartisan victory on an infrastructure package and criticizing Republican Sen. Ron Johnson for opposing it.
“From voting against the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that is creating good-paying jobs and ensuring the US can out-compete countries like China, to refusing to support the creation of more than a thousand good-paying jobs in Wisconsin, Ron Johnson keeps showing Wisconsinites he’s only looking out for himself,” said DSCC spokesperson Amanda Sherman-Baity, “and that’s exactly why they’ll fire him in 2022.”

GRANITE STATE BLITZ: HASSAN ANNOUNCES $13MIL AIR BUY WHILE B-LIST GOP OPPONENTS REMAIN UNKNOWN. Senator Maggie Hassan announced on Friday that she has “reserved $13 million worth of fall airtime for her re-election bid” and released a campaign memo laying out how her “long record of getting wins for the people of New Hampshire” will be a focal point of her campaign – all while the GOP field is locked in an “extreme and chaotic primary.”

NBC News: New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan reserves $13 million for fall re-election bid in New Hampshire. “New Hampshire hosts the second latest primary in the nation — September 13 — giving the eventual Republican nominee little time — and few resources — to communicate after emerging from what is set to be an extreme and chaotic primary,” Hassan campaign manager Aaron Jacobs wrote in the memo, which deems Hassan in a “commanding position” in the race. “No matter who the Republicans nominate, they will enter the general election tarnished as a reliable vote for [Senate GOP Leader Mitch] McConnell and his corporate special interest agenda.”

LAXALT SLAMMED AGAIN FOR SHADY BUSINESS DEALS. A new column in the Nevada Independent raised new questions about corrupt politician Adam Laxalt’s fitness for office.

The Nevada Independent (Opinion): Adam Laxalt’s financial disclosures raise fitness questions. “Adam Laxalt is running to represent the people of Nevada in the U.S. Senate, but it is increasingly difficult to ascribe to him any basic fitness for that office – not just because of his ongoing election denial, but also his now-lengthy record of questionable financial relationships.”
The Nevada Independent’s Jon Ralston: “…it is completely factual on the parade of horribles that make Laxalt unfit for office. Caught on tape trying to influence a gaming regulator on Adelson’s behalf and then doing the late gaming chief’s bidding elsewhere. Will leave a mark.’

KEYSTONE CLASH: NEW ADS, NASTY ATTACKS ESCALATE PA GOP PRIMARY INFIGHTING. Pennsylvania’s “crowded and combustible” GOP Senate primary continues to escalate – Bartos-supporting Super PAC is now up with a new ad whacking carpetbaggers Oz and McCormick, and the field sniped at each other at CPAC. Catch up quick from PA Dems:

→ PA DEMS: GOP PA PRIMARY GETS EVEN NASTIER AS ANOTHER NEGATIVE AD HITS THE AIRWAVES

→ PA DEMS: GOP SENATE FIELD TAKES NASTY PRIMARY TO CPAC

“FIREWORKS” AT FIRST NASTY NORTH CAROLINA GOP SENATE DEBATE. The first GOP primary debate in the Tar Heel State was full of “fireworks,” attacks, and even more infighting as the candidates “took turns criticizing Budd.”

Carolina Journal: Senate primary debate offers fireworks despite Ted Budd’s absence. “Things got somewhat heavier, too, including an exchange by the former governor and Eastman after McCrory tried to offer her a lesson in N.C. politics and welcome her to the Republican Party. She called McCrory’s comments ‘insulting’…Walker feigned ducking for cover behind the podium.”

… AND AS #NCSEN FILING DEADLINE PASSES, THE CHAOTIC GOP FIELD IS SET. Catch up quick from the North Carolina Democratic Party on how “the primary will continue to be a messy fight with infighting and intra-party feuding.”

PEAS IN A POD: HERSCHEL WALKER WON’T RETURN MTG MONEY OR REJECT ENDORSEMENT. Walker is refusing to reject Marjorie Taylor Greene’s endorsement or return the thousands of dollars that she contributed to his campaign — even after Greene came under scrutiny for appearing with Holocaust deniers, Putin apologists, and January 6th supporters at a white nationalist conference. Read more from the Georgia Democratic Party here.

ICYMI – NATIONAL JOURNAL: REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS ARE ON THE BALLOT, REINFORCING STAKES OF PROTECTING DEM SENATE MAJORITY.

JUST THIS WEEK, THANKS TO SENATE DEMOCRATS

→ Dems fighting to lower insulin costs. Senate Democrats are fighting to tackle Americans’ most pressing priorities like lowering costs – including for life saving drugs like insulin.

WJBF: Bill could reduce out of pocket costs for insulin for insured diabetics. “The bill, called the Affordable Insulin Now Act introduced by Senator Raphael Warnock, would be a game changer for so many on this life saving drug.”

Nevada Current: Senators pushing legislation to cap insulin costs. “Nevada Democratic Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen announced Thursday they are supporting the Affordable Insulin Now Act, introduced in February by fellow Democratic Sens. Raphael Warnock of Georgia and Michael Bennet of Colorado, which would limit out-of-pocket costs for the life-saving medication at $35 per month.”

IN THE STATES:

CO – Colorado Times Recorder: ‘Lock Them Up:’ GOP Senate Frontrunner Attacks Bennet and McConnell for Calling Jan. 6 an Insurrection. “Hanks is a QAnon and election-fraud conspiracy theorist. He attended the Capitol attack and crossed police barriers there. Last year, as a member of Colorado’s House of Representatives, Hanks made racist comments downplaying the Three/Fifths Compromise. So far this year, Hanks has won three different straw polls at Republican Senate candidate forums and debates across the state.”

FL – Florida Politics: Val Demings ad tells Marco Rubio to ‘take a hike’ over ‘Rubio-Scott Tax Hike’. “Rep. Val Demings is pinning Sen. Rick Scott’s ‘Rescue America’ plan on Sen. Marco Rubio as Democrats continue to skewer Republicans over the proposal. In her latest ad, titled ‘Marco Rubio is Running From Florida,’ the Democratic Senate candidate’s campaign said Rubio is taking his cues from party bosses like Scott, Florida’s junior Senator.”

NV – KUNR: In Nevada, a Senate candidate embraces far-right ‘constitutional sheriffs’ group. “Fred Lokken teaches political science at Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno. He says before Laxalt’s event, he hadn’t seen such a high-profile candidate embrace members of the extreme right.”

PA – GoErie (Opinion): David McCormick championed globalization, not American workers. “David McCormick doesn’t know Erie and he doesn’t represent Pennsylvania values. McCormick spent his career as a proponent for globalization — a process that too often sells out American workers in exchange for corporate profits. It’s a story that the people of Erie and communities like ours know too well.”

WI – Wisconsin Examiner: Rally targets Johnson, Oshkosh Corp. as company moves ahead with South Carolina plans. “The speakers targeted corporate management as well as Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, who has defended Oshkosh’s decision to set up its assembly line in another state. Earlier this month, Johnson gave Democrats a sound bite that will be used repeatedly between now and November when he shrugged off the plans for South Carolina by saying, ‘It’s not like we don’t have enough jobs here in Wisconsin.’”

TWEET OF THE WEEK: