News · Press Release

The Real Loser of PA-18: the GOP Tax Plan

Facing a tight race in deep-red Trump country, Republicans have spent the past week trashing Rick Saccone, blaming a potential loss on his weak candidacy and lackluster fundraising.

Ignore the spin. Because regardless of the outcome, the real loser of the special election in PA-18 is undeniably the GOP Tax Plan.

After spending nearly $2.5 million on ads promoting Saccone’s support for the Tax Plan and attacking Lamb for opposing it, GOP groups completely abandoned their Tax Plan arguments in the closing weeks, instead launching misleading attacks on Lamb’s prosecutorial record. For the one hundred Republicans running in districts far less favorable than PA-18, where Trump won by twenty points, this monumental shift should be deeply concerning.

See below for coverage of the GOP Tax Plan’s ineffectiveness:

  • “Here’s how tricky things have gotten for Republicans: GOP outside groups have dramatically scaled back their ads promoting the party’s tax cut, with the messaging barely moving the needle in the district’s working-class confines…” [National Journal]
  • “Quietly, the tax-cut ads have cycled out of the major buys. Just one commercial now on air mentions the tax cuts, and the NRCC’s commercials have turned to attacking Lamb’s work as an assistant U.S. attorney…” [Washington Post]
  • “As the congressional special election in Pennsylvania’s 18th district draws near, a super PAC tied to House Speaker Paul Ryan has ditched its tax reform message and is now attacking the Democratic nominee over sanctuary cities…” [Mic]
  • “Both the CLF and the National Republican Congressional Committee also ran ads promoting the Tax Cuts and Job Act…but polling found Lamb gaining ground throughout February, and the tax cut ads were cycled off the airwaves this week.” [Washington Post]
  • “Particularly concerning, they say, is the fact that the millions of dollars Republicans have spent — much of it highlighting the GOP tax cuts and attempting to tie Lamb to Pelosi — has failed to move the needle. [Politico]
  • “But after Republican outside groups initially unleashed a barrage of ads in the district slamming Saccone’s Democratic opponent, 33-year-old former prosecutor Conor Lamb, for opposing the tax plan, their attacks have recently focused on other issues like immigration. Democrats in the district think the change came because the tax ads did not resonate with voters as much as the GOP hoped. [CNBC]
  • “The tightening race was changed from Republican-leaning to a toss-up Thursday by Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball, a political forecasting unit of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, citing Lamb’s strong fundraising and the lack of impact of Republican ads promoting tax cuts.” [Bloomberg]
  • Republicans acknowledge that the tax-cut message has been slow to take hold in this largely working-class district, as the legislation was approved when the special election campaign was already underway. Lamb opposed the tax cut, but Republicans discovered that alone was not a potent message.” [Washington Post]
  • “Democrats in Washington, D.C. told ABC News they think Lamb has benefited from the Republican tax plan, which they argue is a ‘handout to the rich and largest corporations at the expense of the middle-class families.’” [ABC News]
  • “This is a place where Trump’s claim that his tax cuts are good for working people should carry weight. Trump won it by 20 points, and it has many of the sort of working class white voters who apparently looked to Trump as an economic savior. But it turns out that this fact may explain why the tax cuts are not sufficiently resonating. [Washington Post]




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