WHAT THEY’RE SAYING: “Senate Democrats begin onslaught against GOP opponents”

New reporting is detailing the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s first wave of independent expenditure advertising in the Arizona, Michigan, Montana, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin Senate races. 

Here’s what they’re saying:

POLITICO: Senate Democrats begin onslaught against GOP opponents
By Ally Mutnick
August 7, 2024

• Senate Democrats’ campaign arm will begin airing TV ads on Wednesday in four battleground states, marking the official start of their fall ad campaign.

• The spots will target four GOP candidates: Kari Lake in Arizona, Eric Hovde in Wisconsin, Dave McCormick in Pennsylvania and Mike Rogers in Michigan. They are part of a $79 million ad blitz from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

• All the ads focus on specific attacks against the four Republicans.

• The ad in Michigan knocks Rogers for taking money from Big Pharma and Wall Street and then buying a Florida mansion. 

• In Arizona, the DSCC’s ad features footage of Lake telling McCain Republicans to “get the hell out.” It also warns she will ban abortion with no exceptions and is endorsed by “white supremacists and Holocaust deniers.” 

• In Wisconsin, the group’s spot casts Hovde as “a phony” multimillionaire California banker trying to buy a Senate seat in Wisconsin.

• The DSCC is releasing two ads in Pennsylvania. One hits McCormick for saying he would be “very, very happy” to see Roe v. Wade overturned. A second warns that under McCormick’s leadership Bridgewater Associates became the No. 1 foreign hedge fund in China and helped boost its military.

National Journal: AD ROUNDUP: DSCC and Democrats Continue Ad Avalanche
By Nicholas Anastácio
August 7, 2024

• The DSCC launched its first independent expenditure TV and digital ads of the fall campaign as part of their $79 million advertising plan.

• HOTLINE ANALYSIS. The DSCC is holding nothing back in its push to hold the Senate Democrats’ majority in November… As DSCC Chair Gary Peters has pushed throughout this cycle, Democrats are banking on their candidate quality riding them to victory in November, bringing Peters’ a second successful Senate cycle.

NBC News: Senate Democrats launch first attack in crucial Montana Senate race
By Bridget Bowman 
August 8, 2024

• The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s independent expenditure arm is launching its first attack in the Montana Senate race, targeting Republican Tim Sheehy over public lands. 

• The 30-second spot, which will run on connected TV platforms, criticizes Sheehy’s private ranch, citing reporting that in 2022 his ranch offered a five-day archery hunt for $12,500. 

• “It’s pure Montana beauty, but you’re not allowed. This is Tim Sheehy’s private playground: prime elk country, fishing spots, even native sites, only accessible to those who can dole out thousands to hunt and fish,” a narrator says. “Get used to it: This is Montana’s future if Sheehy has his way.” 

• The issue of access to public lands is expected to be a salient one in Montana, with some Montanans concerned about wealthy out-of-staters’ buying up land. 

The Hill: Senate Dems’ campaign arm rolls out first TV ads of the cycle
By Jared Gans
August 8, 2024

• Senate Democrats’ campaign arm is rolling out its first independent expenditure advertisements for several candidates this week as it prepares for the fall election.

• The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) is launching ads in several key battleground states that will likely determine which party wins control of the upper chamber in November. The ads released Wednesday target Arizona GOP nominee Kari Lake, Michigan GOP nominee and former Rep. Mike Rogers, Pennsylvania GOP nominee Dave McCormick, Wisconsin GOP candidate Eric Hovde and Montana GOP nominee Tim Sheehy. 

• The ads are part of a $79 million advertising plan that the DSCC announced in the spring for 2024, which includes television, digital and radio advertisements.

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