DSCC FRIDAY TAKEAWAYS: NEW DSCC AD HIGHLIGHTS SENATE GOP’S ANTI-CHOICE AGENDA – CHAOS AHEAD OF PA & NC GOP PRIMARIES –

“ON FIRE” – DSCC LAUNCHES NEW AD CALLING OUT SENATE REPUBLICANS’ ANTI-CHOICE AGENDA. Our first ad in response to the Supreme Court’s draft ruling overturning Roe v. Wade – “On Fire” – highlights how the 2022 election will now determine if women are subject to cruel new punishments and restrictions on their health care.

See What They’re Saying:

• HuffPost: ‘On Fire’: Senate Democrats Release First Ad After Supreme Court Leak. “The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is out with its first ad after the leak of a likely Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. The 30-second long ad, backed by an initial five-figure ad buy, suggests a Republican Senate majority would pass a strict national ban on abortion.”

• The Hill: Senate Democratic campaign arm launches first ad responding to draft Supreme Court abortion ruling. “The 30-second digital spot warns that a Republican-controlled Senate would work to ban abortions nationwide and limit access to birth control…It’s the latest effort by Democrats to make the fate of abortion rights a central theme of the 2022 midterm elections.”

• MSNBC: On abortion rights, Dems have a pitch they’ll push ‘relentlessly’. “‘If Senate Republicans win in November, they will light women’s rights on fire,’ the ad’s narrator tells viewers. ‘They will make abortion illegal everywhere. Punishing women, even in cases of rape, incest, or to save a mother’s life. And they’re coming after birth control — unless we vote.’”

OVERTURNING ROE IS TIP OF THE ICEBERG – GOP PLEDGES NATIONAL ABORTION BAN, OPPOSES EXCEPTIONS, & ATTACKS CONTRACEPTIVES. A GOP Senate won’t stop at overturning Roe – they would ban abortion nationwide without exceptions for rape, incest, or the life of the mother, and their agenda could even lead to  “contraception bans.”

– USA Today: McConnell calls US abortion ban ‘possible,’ says he won’t change filibuster to pass it. “Asked Thursday if a national ban is something worthy of a debate now, or whether it should wait until after the election, McConnell acknowledged the possibility.”   – HuffPost: GOP Crusade Against Abortion Could Lead To Contraception Bans. “If Republicans get what they want… it would kick the issue back to the states and open the door to restrictions or bans on birth control methods, because there would be no federal guarantee of access.” – Axios: These GOP Senate candidates oppose most exceptions to abortion bans. “A series of Republican candidates running in crucial Senate battlegrounds hold strict anti-abortion views — including opposing the procedure even in cases of rape and incest.”  → ICYMI: DSCC DEPUTY GETS PERSONAL IN NEW VIDEO CONNECTING ABORTION RESTRICTIONS AND MATERNAL HEALTH OUTCOMES. DSCC Deputy Executive Director Jessica Knight Henry shared her own personal story about the importance of protecting women’s health care.   NewsOne: ​​‘My Own Story Is One Of Survival’: DSCC Deputy Gets Personal In New Video

WALL-TO-WALL COVERAGE IN THE STATES HIGHLIGHTS GOP SENATE CANDIDATE’S ATTACKS ON WOMEN’S HEALTH CARE. Democrats are joining with voters, doctors, local leaders and women’s health care advocates to speak out against Republican Senate candidates’ agenda criminalizing abortion and taking away a woman’s right to make their own health care decisions.

• AZ – Fox Phoenix: Rally against Roe v. Wade decision. “Several Democratic lobbyists joined Democratic lawmakers in a rally against ending Roe v. Wade… Democrats [are] also using the platform to call out their counterparts including Arizona’s Attorney General and U.S. Senate candidate Mark Brnovich… members also speaking out against Republican candidates Blake Masters and Jim Lamon.”

• FL – CBS 4: Florida Democratic leaders call out GOP for attacks on reproductive freedom. “One the heels of minority leader, Mitch McConnell, confirming that a federal abortion ban is possible if Roe is struck down, Florida leaders talked about republican’s attacks on women’s healthcare..”

• GA – WSB-TV (VIDEO): “Republican Leader Mitch McConnell told USA Today he could push for a national abortion ban if the GOP takes control in November…Channel Two’s Richard Elliot live in DeKalb County – and Richard, Democrats are ramping up the pressure on Republican candidates.”

• NC – Indy Week (Op-Ed, Chair Richardson): Republicans’ Latest Effort to Push Their MAGA Agenda is Overturning Roe v. Wade. “The threats to health care and reproductive rights from the Republican Party are a troubling reminder of the severity of their MAGA agenda and of what’s at stake in 2022. This year, Democrats will take this fight to the ballot box and elect pro-choice Democrats who will ensure the fundamental right to equitable access to abortion and reproductive health care for everyone.”

• NH – Union Leader: New Hampshire’s federal delegation vows to fight for abortion rights. “’I know we are going to continue to stand up for the freedom of each and every woman in New Hampshire and across the country,’ said Sen. Maggie Hassan Monday during a press conference at the Concord headquarters of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England.”

• PA – WBRE: Pennsylvania Democrats vote for women’s rights. “Mayor Paige Cognetti, Action Together NEPA, and other public officials spoke to the media about Roe vs. Wade. Calling out Republicans for anti-choice agenda following a recent Supreme Court leak. Pennsylvania Democrats are calling on voters to choose the right candidate to make what they believe is the right decision.”

• WI – The Journal Times: “Freedom to Choose Racine” hosted pro-choice rally on Monument Square Saturday. “A rally Saturday on Monument Square followed the recent leak of a document that showed the United States Supreme Court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade. Among the speakers was state Rep. Greta Neubauer and Mayor Cory Mason.”

HASSAN, CORTEZ MASTO EMPHASIZE STAKES OF NOVEMBER ELECTION FOR WOMEN’S HEALTH CARE. Senators Maggie Hassan and Catherine Cortez Masto continue to highlight how ​​Republicans’ attack on abortion access, birth control and women’s health care has dramatically escalated the stakes of the 2022 election. WATCH:

“A LITTLE MESSY?!”SELF-SERVING RON JOHNSON CALLOUSLY TELLS WISCONSIN WOMEN TO TAKE A HIKE TO RECEIVE HEALTH CARE.  Johnson – who has spent his entire political career trying to rip away health care from Wisconsin women and families – said that overturning Roe v. Wade would make abortions “a little messy for some people” and that Wisconsin women should drive to Illinois to receive health care.

• Wisconsin State Journal: Ron Johnson says overturning Roe v. Wade might be ‘messy’ but won’t be ‘that big a change.’ “Johnson… said if Roe v. Wade is overturned “it’s not going to be that big a change” in Wisconsin despite a law on the books that would ban abortion in almost every instance. ‘It might be a little messy for some people, but abortion is not going away,’ he told the Wall Street Journal, adding that people would be able to still drive to Illinois for an abortion if Roe is overturned.”

• Talking Points Memo: RonJon Distances Self From Own Anti-Abortion Position.“National Democrats pounced on the remarks as well. ‘Ron Johnson has spent his entire political career trying to rip away health care from Wisconsin women and families, and his comments are as callous and out of step with Wisconsinites as his record is,’ Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesperson Amanda Sherman-Baity said in a statement to TPM.”

CATCH UP QUICK ON EXPENSIVE, NASTY, & TRUMP-FUELED INFIGHTING AHEAD OF PA AND NC GOP SENATE PRIMARIES. No matter who emerges from these chaotic Republican Senate primaries, the GOP’s eventual nominees will be badly bruised and out-of-step with general election voters.

• PA – Philadelphia Inquirer: “Pennsylvania’s Republican Senate primary is in chaos.”

• PA – New York Times: “After months of a bruising television ad war between Dr. Mehmet Oz and David McCormick and their allies… The Club for Growth, the pro-business and anti-tax group, began booking television ads on Tuesday on behalf of Ms. Barnette worth $2 million.”

• PA – Washington Examiner: ‘Totally controlled’: Trump rips McCormick while lauding Dr. Oz in Pennsylvania rally. “Trump also ripped McCormick’s connections to China. ‘I do know that he was with a company that managed money for Communist China. And he is absolutely the candidate of special interests and globalists and the Washington establishment,’ he said.”

• NC – POLITICO: “The conservative Club for Growth announced it was spending $5 million to support Budd. Then $10 million. Then $15 million. The organization’s super PAC bought up ad time portraying McCrory as a ‘liberal faker,’ a line of attack the group has sustained for months as it sought to boost support for Budd. Other outside groups piled on with several more millions in spending against McCrory.”

• NC – Fox News: Anchor: “Your opponent there has got the endorsement of Donald Trump, how much does that matter?” McCrory: “It helped his name-ID because Ted Budd had done nothing during his 6 years in the U.S. Congress – no one knew him, he had no record of accomplishment.”

“MAGA MAKEOVER” MCCORMICK’S BRUTAL WEEK: SLAMMED AS AN “ACTOR” WHO WOULD PRIVATIZE SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE.The Philadelphia Inquirer exposed how David McCormick has undergone a “makeover driven by an army of consultants” that has “at times left him looking like a supporting actor in his own carefully stage-managed production” – while the Heartland Signal reported that McCormick wants to target Social Security and Medicare and never held a CT hunting license despite calling himself a ‘lifelong hunter.’

• Philadelphia Inquirer: Trump’s smackdown of David McCormick shows the risks for Republicans trying a MAGA makeover. “McCormick has spent four months and at least $11 million of his own money advertising himself as an “America First” conservative. He aggressively sought Trump’s endorsement, courting the former president’s allies and hiring Trump aides to vaguely defined positions. Trump didn’t buy it.”

• Heartland Signal: David McCormick advocated privatizing Social Security, Medicare as Bush administration official. “During a September 2007 speech at Peking University in Beijing, then-Under Secretary McCormick praised the Bush administration’s push to privatize entitlement programs.”

• Heartland Signal: GOP Senate candidate and self-proclaimed ‘lifelong hunter’ never had a hunting license in Connecticut, where he lived for over a decade. “David McCormick, one of the leading Republican candidates in Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race, has portrayed himself as a ‘lifelong PA hunter’ throughout his campaign – but there are no records of the former hedge fund CEO ever holding a hunting license in Connecticut, where he lived for over a decade.”

ICYMI: PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER EDITORIAL BOARD DECLINES TO ENDORSE IN GOP SENATE PRIMARY, WRITING: “With abortion rights at stake and right-leaning candidates who can’t agree on who won the 2020 election, The Inquirer Editorial Board has chosen not to endorse a Republican for Senate or governor.” Other key points…

• “How do you find points of agreement when you can’t reach common ground on facts so basic that they could be used in a field sobriety test?”

• “There is no pleasure in coming to this conclusion. In fact, it is a sad state of affairs.”

WALKER WORRIES – WAPO MAGAZINE HIGHLIGHTS HERCHEL’S “TROUBLED” PAST. A new Washington Post magazine feature highlights how Herschel Walker’s troubled record – riddled with “bizarre” and “outrageous”  statements, “profound political incognizance,” and “distortion of facts” – has Republicans “alarmed” that Walker “flames out” in the general election.

• Washington Post: Backed by Trump, a Troubled Georgia Football Legend Eyes a Senate Seat. “The unknowns associated with Herschel Walker, with his history and what his statements in the future may be, make him a foolish risk for Republicans.”

HOLD MY BEER – LAMON AND MASTERS COMPETE TO SEE WHO IS THE MOST OUT OF TOUCH WITH ARIZONANS. This week GOP Senate candidate Jim Lamon was slammed after it was uncovered that he wants to privatize social security and raise the retirement age. Not to be outdone, GOP rival Blake Masters embraced a national abortion ban and wants to ban contraceptives – and said the gender pay gap doesn’t exist because men “are the ones who are doing risky” jobs.

• American Independent: Arizona GOP Senate candidate wants to ‘save’ Social Security by privatizing it. “Arizona Republican Senate candidate Jim Lamon has repeatedly said he wants to save and preserve Social Security. But his own campaign website reveals that he aims to raise the program’s eligibility age and to privatize it, leaving millions of Americans to fend for themselves.”

• HuffPost: GOP Senate Candidate Blake Masters Embraces National Abortion Ban. “Three days after Politico published the draft, Masters said that the Roe decision was ‘absolutely horrible’ and noted that the Constitution ‘does not mention abortion.’ … he added, ‘I actually think we should go further than that though.’”

• Arizona Mirror: GOP Senate candidate Blake Masters wants to allow states to ban contraception use. “Blake Masters, a Tucson-based venture capitalist, boasts on his website that he will only vote to confirm federal judges ‘who understand that Roe and Griswold and Casey were wrongly decided, and that there is no constitutional right to abortion.’ Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, decided in 1973 and 1992, respectively, both upheld a constitutional right to abortion access.”

• NBC News: Gender pay gap is just a ‘left-wing narrative,’ Arizona Senate candidate said. “‘Women are not paid less in America than men,” Masters says. ‘It’s a left-wing narrative, this gender pay gap…’ He continues: ‘Men are the ones who are doing risky, you know, fishing crab in Alaska.’”

…AND GOP ATTACKS HEAT UP AS LAMON HITS MASTERS AS “PUPPET” IN NEW AD.  Lamon attacked Masters in a new ad as “the puppet of California Big Tech.” The ad comes as the field stares down a long, hot summer in a competitive primary with “no clear frontrunner.” Read more from the Arizona Democratic Party HERE and watch the “spicy” attack ad below:

BEASLEY BUMP: NEW POLL “SHOWS DEAD HEAT IN NORTH CAROLINA SENATE GENERAL ELECTION.” NBC News highlighted a new poll showing Cheri Beasley entering the general election neck-and-neck with her Republican opponents as “the raucous GOP primary” has done damage to the eventual GOP nominee’s favorability. 

• NBC News: Beasley internal poll shows dead heat in North Carolina Senate general election. “North Carolina Democrat Cheri Beasley’s internal campaign polling shows her in a statistical tie with the two Republican frontrunners squaring off in next week’s Senate primary.”

JUST THIS WEEK, THANKS TO SENATE DEMOCRATS. 

 → Senate Dems Work To Lower Costs, Put More Money In Family’s Pockets. Senate Democrats like Senator Raphael Warnock are fighting to address Americans’ most pressing priorities – including lowering costs and holding big corporations accountable for getting rich while spiking costs on working-families.

• Atlanta CW: Sen. Raphael Warnock holds East Point roundtable on high prescription costs. “Local senior citizens and health care providers met with Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.)… for a discussion on high drug costs. Warnock briefed them on his proposed legislation to cap those costs and put some of the burden on drug manufacturers.”

• WSBTV: Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock pushes to end overdraft fees from banks. “Warnock chaired his senate hearing this week exploring ending overdraft fees. He wrote letters to major banks pushing them to get rid of the fees. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, in 2019, banks earned more than $15 billion from overdraft fees. ‘It’s one more example of the ways in which it’s expensive to be poor, and it’s difficult to be an ordinary person just trying to make your life work,’ said Warnock.”

IN THE STATES

CO – Colorado Times Recorder: FACT CHECK: Did U.S. Senate Candidate Ron Hanks Hack Voting Machines? “It would not be the first time Hanks has been confused about what constitutes a ‘voting machine.’ Perhaps the Republican candidate, as in the case of the video announcing his candidacy for U.S. Senate, was thinking of a photocopier?”

GA – Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Warnock continues his staggering fundraising streak. “U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock is continuing his breakneck fundraising pace. He’ll report raising nearly $5.6 million between April 1 and May 4 in a special federal filing he’s set to submit on Thursday. More than 113,000 donors gave to his campaign, giving the Democrat an average of $37.63 a pop.”

NV – Reno Gazette Journal (Opinion): Decades of progress and promises squandered as rights begin to disappear. “You can refuse to vote and choose to silently stand by while our democracy collapses and our basic rights evaporate. That’s going to happen unless we make sure people like Nevada’s U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto are elected. It’s clear that both of the leading Republicans in the race to replace her will not support a woman’s right to choose.”

NH – WBUR: After Roe leak, abortion becomes hot election issue in N.H. and elsewhere. “’We cannot let politicians — whether they be in Washington or in Concord — take away a woman’s freedom,’ said Hassan, who vows to protect abortion rights as part of her bid to win re-election.”

TWEET OF THE WEEK

David Bergstein
@DavidABergstein

Amanda Sherman
@asherman89

Pat Burgwinkle
@Burgwinkle

Nora Keefe
@norakatekeefe

Freedom Murphy
@F_AlexanderM

Eli Cousin
@elicousin

Claire Berry
@claireliseberry

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