April 5, 2024 Press Releases

DSCC FRIDAY TAKEAWAYS: GOP SENATE ROSTER FULL OF “UNDISCIPLINED” “WEAKER” CANDIDATES WHO CAN’T REWRITE THEIR ABORTION RECORD & BERNIE BUSTED AGAIN

DSCC FRIDAY TAKEAWAYS: GOP SENATE ROSTER FULL OF “UNDISCIPLINED” “WEAKER” CANDIDATES WHO CAN’T REWRITE THEIR ABORTION RECORD & BERNIE BUSTED AGAIN

📰 CANDIDATE QUALITY IS COSTING THE GOP → New reporting from Vanity Fair details how “undisciplined,” “wealthy carpetbaggers” and “weaker general election candidate[s]” could cost Senate Republicans this cycle. Read the key points from Vanity Fair below:

The road to Democrats having kept the Senate thus far is lined with Trump’s bungled attempts to play kingmaker.

One of the interesting trends I’ve noticed this year is that a lot of these Trumpy candidates are wealthy carpetbaggers parachuting back into states they have only a tangential relationship with.

As we saw in 2022, money doesn’t necessarily mean political mastery. Candidates like Kari Lake and Tim Sheehy are largely undisciplined, while Dave McCormick and Eric Hovde don’t even appear to live full-time in the states they hope to represent.

⚠️ ✍️ YOU CAN’T REWRITE HISTORY → New reporting from HuffPost details that as “GOP Senate candidates are racing to rewrite past abortion positions,” “Democrats are betting that voters will see the multitude of ways GOP senators would help restrict access to abortion.” Read the key points from HuffPost below:

In Nevada: Sam Brown “is hoping that a splashy interview alongside his wife is enough to cancel out his anti-abortion record,” but “left unaddressed: Brown’s recent tenure as volunteer head of the anti-abortion Nevada Faith and Freedom Coalition; his refusal to articulate his stance on federal abortion restrictions as recently as July; his attendance of an anti-abortion rights gala in October; and perhaps most importantly, the kinds of judges he would vote to confirm to the federal bench.”

In Arizona: Kari Lake “has a clear record on the topic.” Lake “celebrated the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturning a federal right to abortion” and “supported a complete abortion ban known as the ‘territorial law.’” Lake also “affirmed that she believes that life begins at conception, and that abortion pills should be illegal.”
In Michigan: Mike Rogers, “co-sponsored four different fetal personhood bills that would completely ban abortion nationwide: in 2005, 2007, 2009, and 2013.”

In Pennsylvania: David McCormick “said that he supported prohibiting abortion except for cases where the life of the mother is at risk, suggesting he did not support exceptions for rape and incest… McCormick’s campaign also did not register its objections to several press accounts representing that as his position based on his remarks at the debate.”
See more at GOPonAbortion.com.

📚 ROGERS’ RECORD → The Michigan Independent was the latest to report that Mike Rogers “built up a consistently anti-abortion record during his time in Congress, routinely voting against reproductive rights 100% of the time.” The report details that Rogers “repeatedly co-sponsored bills” to suspend FDA approval of mifepristone, “backed a federal ban on abortion,” and “co-sponsored four different House bills that would have declared that life begins at the moment of conception.” Rogers also co-sponsored two bills “to withdraw FDA approval of mifepristone,” even though “69% of Michigan voters favor ensuring that residents of the state have access to ‘the FDA-approved abortion medication.’”

🔎BERNIE BUSTED… AGAIN, “THE LATEST IN A STRING OF OF INCONSISTENCIES THAT HAVE DOGGED HIS CAMPAIGN” → New reporting from The Columbus Dispatch revealed that “Moreno said an Ohio Confucius Institute closed under his watch. It didn’t.” The article notes this is “the latest in a string of inconsistencies that have dogged his campaign.”

🌅 LAKE’S DROWNING → Kari Lake had another terrible week. From being “reduced to running down to Mar-a-Lago to solicit donations” as Republicans express concern about her campaign, to critiques of her frequent out of state trips in her quest to stay in the “limelight” to her attempt to evade discovery in the defamation case against her being panned as a “bad strategy legally and a bad strategy politically,” this week has brought a flood of damaging stories for her troubled campaign.

Read more: Kari Lake’s chances of winning Arizona seem dimmer by the day
Read more: Kari Lake’s Out-of-State Travel Adds Up

🎞️ ROLL THE LAKE TAPES → The Arizona Democratic Party released a new episode of the Lake Tapes that looks at why “Kari Lake’s attempt at a campaign makeover appears to have fallen flat” and how she “faces an uphill battle to mend fences, notably with John McCain supporters.” After Kari Lake asked the “U.S. Supreme Court to endorse a conspiracy theory” and attempted to evade discovery in the defamation case against her, Arizona Republicans say “Kari Lake looks increasingly like she isn’t a candidate that can win.”

🥇 ROSEN’S RECORD-BREAKING RESERVATION → Senator Jacky Rosen’s reelection campaign announced a record-breaking $14 million ad reservation– the largest ad reservation in the state’s history for a U.S. Senate race. This news comes just days after Rosen launched her first two ads of the cycle – in both English and Spanish.

💥 🤼‍♀️ MEANWHILE, FOR THE GOP IT’S GETTING NASTY IN NEVADA → In a “major challenge” to Sam Brown, former Trump Ambassador Jeff Gunter announced he will be launching a multi-million dollar ad campaign ahead of the June 11 GOP primary. Gunter has repeatedly attacked Brown for being a “Mitch McConnell puppet.”

🤺 AND MESSY IN MICHIGAN → The conservative Detroit News raised a red flag about the “fractured” Republican Senate primary that is full of “division,” writing that “Republicans stand to lose” the race in November.

Mike Rogers is also losing his cool as he dodges questions about his ties to China and faces attacks from 25 RNC delegates from Michigan who are urging Trump to rescind his endorsement of him, calling them “sophomoric” and suggesting they are “not thinking very well.”

💪 “FLORIDA IS BACK, BABY” → Rick Scott is a “uniquely vulnerable candidate” in 2024 following the Florida Supreme Court rulings, which trigger a dangerous abortion ban before most women know they’re pregnant and put a measure to codify abortion on the ballot this November. “Florida Democratic Senate candidate and former Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-Fla.) called two key decisions on abortion from the state’s Supreme Court a ‘game changer’ for the Sunshine State’s Senate race in November.” See more reporting here.

📣 DSCC SPOX MAEVE COYLE says “now Florida women are facing an even stricter abortion ban, and their right to make their own health care decisions will literally be on the ballot this November. The fight against these new restrictions on access to abortion will shine a brighter spotlight on Rick Scott’s long, dangerous record of supporting draconian abortion bans. In November, Florida voters will stand up for women’s freedom to make their most personal medical decisions by rejecting this abortion ban and firing Rick Scott from the Senate.”

🎙️ TED’S TALKS TIE HIM UP → The bombshell front-page reporting on Ted Cruz’s podcast scandal is only picking up steam. Here’s what Texans have been reading about his scandal which “raises legal questions” about “Cruz’s fundraising arrangement with a company that distributes his podcast.”

Dallas Morning News: “A super PAC focused on getting U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz reelected has received hundreds of thousands of dollars tied to advertising revenue from Cruz’s ‘Verdict’ podcast, an unusual campaign finance arrangement that raises legal questions.”

Houston Chronicle: “U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s office has repeatedly dismissed ethical questions about his three-times-a-week podcasting gig, saying he makes no money from the venture with a company that lobbies Congress. But over the last year, iHeartMedia…has made regular, and growing, payments to a super PAC supporting the Texas Republican’s reelection effort.”

ABC13 Houston: “This morning there are plenty of questions surrounding Texas senator Ted Cruz’s fundraising arrangement with a company that distributes his podcast.”
CW39 Houston: “Senator Ted Cruz’s campaign says his podcast is a service to constituents, and he does it for free – despite reports that his campaign benefits from the arrangement.”
Spectrum News 1 San Antonio: “iHeartMedia gave more than $600,000 to a super PAC backing Texas senator Ted Cruz… Some ethics and campaign finance experts say this arrangement blurs the lines of what’s allowed under campaign finance laws.”

🐄 FIVE DAYS IN DAIRYLAND → New reporting from the Associated Press highlights Senator Tammy Baldwin’s “go everywhere” approach as she campaigned across Wisconsin on her five-day statewide Dairyland tour.

📺 ADD IT TO THE QUEUE → The Ruben Gallego for Senate campaign announced its second TV ad of the cycle, “Breathe Easier.” The ad acknowledges economic concerns voters are facing and his work fighting to lower costs while in Congress.