ICYMI: Senate Democrats Aim to Link Cruz, Scott to Looming Shutdown [Bloomberg Government]

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT 

Bloomberg Government: Senate Democrats Aim to Link Cruz, Scott to Looming Shutdown
By Zach C. Cohen
September 22 

Key Points:

• Senate Democrats’ campaign arm said Friday it is running digital advertisements preemptively blaming two high-profile Republicans senators up for re-election next year for a potential government shutdown early next month.
  
  
• The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee said it will …promote links in Google search results to Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rick Scott’s (R-Fla.) comments praising the House Freedom Caucus’s pursuit of spending cuts and warning a shutdown would put “Social Security at Risk.”
  
  
• Cruz and Scott are viewed as Republicans’ most vulnerable incumbent senators in the 2024 elections.
  
  
• A shutdown could slow the processing of new Social Security claims.
  
  
• The DSCC said the ads are targeted to senior voters in Florida and in Austin, Texas, where Cruz is scheduled to speak at the Texas Tribune Festival this weekend.
  
  
• “Cruz and Scott’s government shutdown would be devastating: raising costs on hardworking families and small businesses while threatening vital programs like Social Security,” said DSCC spokesperson Tommy Garcia. “Cruz and Scott have once again put their petty politics over the best interests of their state – and they’ve given voters another reason to fire them in 2024.”

Florida Politics: Senate Democrats peg government shutdown on Rick Scott in ad buy
By Jacob Ogles
September 22 

Key Points:

• As a government shutdown looms, Senate Democrats plan to blast U.S. Sen. Rick Scott with a five-figure ad buy.
  
  
• Digital ads will appear on Google search advertisements putting the burden of failed negotiations on the Naples Republican’s shoulders.
  
  
• “Scott’s government shutdown would be devastating: raising costs on hardworking families and small businesses while threatening vital programs like Social Security,” said Maeve Coyle, a spokesperson for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC).
  
  
• “Instead of doing his job and keeping America’s government open, Scott has once again put his petty politics over the best interests of Floridians — and he’s given Florida voters another reason to fire him in 2024.”
  
  
• The ads will use quotes from Scott to media outlets amid the ongoing budget negotiations in the House. Scott has repeatedly voiced support for Republican hard-liners in the House demanding spending cuts.
  
  
• “Thank God for the Freedom Caucus and all they are doing to ensure Washington does its job and reins in Democrats’ reckless spending,” Scott tweeted earlier this month.
  
  
• He also appeared with House members the same day as the tweet in support of their stance.
  
  
• “I thank God for what the Freedom Caucus is doing in the House. If they don’t stand up, nobody’s standing up,” he said, as reported by The American Independent.”
  
  
• The ads from Senate Democrats will single out such quotes and peg the current showdown as a consequence of Scott’s rhetoric. Voters who click the links will be directed to news coverage of Scott’s statements.
  
  
• DSCC officials said the ads will target older voters in Florida, who could feel the impacts of a shutdown through programs like Social Security.
  
  
• Of note, Scott stood alongside U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, a Texas Republican, and has aligned himself with U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, a Naples Republican.
  
  
• Scott faces re-election in 2024, six years after he won his seat by just over 10,000 votes out of more than 8.1 million cast.

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