May 24, 2024 Press Releases

DSCC FRIDAY TAKEAWAYS: POLL SHOWS BLOCKING BORDER BILL BAD BET FOR GOP, MT GOP HAS “BAD TASTE IN THEIR MOUTH” ABOUT SHEEHY, HOVDE’S OFFENSIVE COMMENTS

SURVEY SAYS…VOTERS DON’T LIKE GOP BLOCKING BORDER BILL → The DSCC released new polling ahead of this week’s border security vote that found an overwhelming majority (80%) of Senate battleground voters from Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin support a bipartisan proposal in Congress to secure the border. In particular, opposing a bill backed by border patrol agents that cracks down on the flow of fentanyl drives voters’ attitudes against Senate Republicans.

📣 DSCC SAYS: “Cruz and Scott’s vote puts them on the wrong side of border patrol agents who backed this bill, members of their own party who helped write it, and voters in their states who want our border secured and a crackdown on the flow of fentanyl. Cruz and Scott’s vote is the worst kind of self-serving politics, and it will give voters in Texas and Florida another compelling reason to fire them.”

But really, the headlines say it all:

NBC News: Senate Republicans block border security bill as they campaign on border chaos

CNN: Border bill fails in Senate for second time, blocked by GOP opposition

The Guardian: Senate Republicans block bipartisan border security bill for a second time

WATCH: The DSCC released a new digital video highlighting Republican Senate candidates opposing the bipartisan border security legislation.

DSCC CHAIR PETERS ON GOP’S “DEEPLY FLAWED” SENATE CANDIDATES → As reports continue highlighting Senate Republicans’ candidate quality problems, DSCC Chair Sen. Gary Peters joined CBS News’ Face the Nation to discuss Senate Republicans’ “deeply flawed” recruits and issues with “candidate quality.” Watch for yourself:

SPEAKING OF FLAWED CANDIDATES…EVEN MONTANA REPUBLICANS “HAVE A BAD TASTE IN THEIR MOUTH” ABOUT SHEEHY AFTER “A SLEW OF BAD HEADLINES” → New reporting from the Helena Independent Record shows even Montana Republicans are “frustrated” with Tim Sheehy and voicing their concerns after he’s “faced a slew of bad headlines.” Read more:

“Sheehy, a first-time political candidate, has faced a slew of bad headlines over the last few months, including a lie and conflicting stories about a gunshot wound, accusations that he’s a ‘wannabe cowboy,’ misrepresentations about which groups his book proceeds are funneled to and more.”

“How do you fight a billionaire club?” asked Eric Olsen, a Yellowstone County conservative who’s frustrated with how the candidate selection process played out.

“Montanans did not have a vote for Senate [in the primary],” she said. “I absolutely would have voted for Rosendale.”

SHEEHY BEDEVILED BY HIS OWN BOOK AS THE DAILY BEAST REVEALS HIS STORY ABOUT LEAVING THE MILITARY “CONTRADICTED” BY HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY → This week, new reporting from the Daily Beast found Tim Sheehy caught in yet another lie, this time about how he left the military.

“Tim Sheehy…has repeatedly told voters he was ‘discharged’ from the military for medical reasons, owing to wounds sustained in service.”

“But the Republican’s own autobiography, published just last year, says otherwise.”

“The discrepancy is the latest to dog Sheehy.”

“Sheehy’s differing versions of why he left the military stand to add to issues on which he will face tough questions.”

SHEEHY SCRUBS WEBSITE AFTER PUBLIC LANDS BACKLASH→ Following an NBC News report that revealed Tim Sheehy’s Montana ranch restricts access to public lands for hunters, Heartland Signal revealed the ranch has “removed a section from his ranch’s website advertising its proximity to public land.”

ADDITIONAL INDICATIONS OF APPARENT FRAUD IN MICHIGAN → The Michigan Democratic Party, the DSCC, and a Michigan voter submitted a supplemental letter to the Michigan Board of State Canvassers detailing additional indications of apparent fraud in Republican Senate candidates’ nominating petitions.

REVOLVING DOOR ROGERS “VOTED AGAINST REINING IN SPECIAL INTERESTS” → New reporting from The Gander this week detailed how Mike Rogers “has done little (if anything) to curb the outsized role that cash—and corporate influence—plays in deciding federal policy.”

The report finds Rogers “repeatedly stood in the way of campaign finance reforms that were designed to minimize corporate influence in politics and bring more transparency to political spending.”

WHILE “ROGERS’ TIES TO CHINESE TELECOM GIANTS FUEL HYPOCRISY SCANDAL” → New reporting from American Journal News details Mike Rogers’ “hypocrisy” as his company “did business” with Huawei and ZTE, two “Chinese telecom giants” that “the FBI says…are national security threats.”

MESSY IN MICHIGAN (AGAIN) → Michigan’s Republican primary is getting “increasingly combative” and “particularly nasty” according to new reporting from Bridge Michigan this week. The analysis details how Mike Rogers is taking “flak” in the primary as Amash and Pensler “repeatedly blast” and “attack” him as a “deep state…establishment stooge.”

HOVDE’S “HISTORY OF ANTISEMITIC SLURS” → Add antisemitism and offensive slurs to Republican Eric Hovde’s long (long) list of offensive remarks. This week, Haaretz released a bombshell report detailing Hovde’s “history of invoking antisemitic slurs” and elevating antisemitic conspiracies.

SCOTT BRINGS TOXIC AGENDA TO GOP LEADERSHIP RACE → As Rick Scott announces his run for Republican leader, his plan to sunset Social Security and Medicare and his long record supporting abortion bans is again coming to the forefront of what’s at risk this November.

📣 DSCC: “Scott’s run for GOP Senate Leader shines a spotlight on what Republicans would do if they gain control of the Senate: sunsetting Medicare and Social Security, raising taxes on working families, and passing a national ban on abortion. This deeply unpopular agenda reinforces why voters will fire Scott and protect Democrats’ Senate majority in November.”

“RIDICULOUS,” CRUZ CAPITULATES ON DEMOCRACY → During an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Ted Cruz refused to pledge to accept the 2024 election results, calling the straightforward question “ridiculous.” Watch for yourself.

CRUZ’S (EMPTY) PLEA FOR POPULARITY → This week, Ted Cruz introduced so-called IVF legislation that failed to make “any real legal protections for IVF,” leading reporters to conclude the “unhelpful” bill was an empty effort in Cruz’s “desperate bid for reelection.”

SAM BROWN’S ANTI-ABORTION RECORD→ Republican Sam Brown is facing renewed scrutiny for trying to hide his long record opposing reproductive freedom and abortion access. Read more from Axios:

“Brown…led the Nevada branch of the Faith and Freedom Coalition between his 2022 and 2024 campaigns.”

“The group is an offshoot of the national Faith and Freedom Coalition, a staunchly anti-abortion organization that has supported some of the toughest state-level abortion restrictions — including Texas’ ban on the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy.”’

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