NY Times: “As Republicans splinter over how to deal with Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, the QAnon devotee from Georgia who peddles an array of false conspiracy theories, Democrats are seizing on the infighting to make her the avatar for an array of G.O.P. lawmakers.”
Politico: “House Democrats are preparing to center their strategy for the far-off midterm elections on a simple, aggressive message: Republicans are the party of QAnon.”
This morning, DCCC Chair Sean Patrick Maloney announced the committee’s first major TV and digital campaign of the 2022 Election Cycle, which exposes seven vulnerable Washington Republicans and Minority Leader McCarthy for being too weak to stand up to President Trump and the QAnon mob after that mob murdered a police officer in its siege of the U.S. Capitol. As the New York Times reported earlier today, this historically early investment from the DCCC comes as Washington Republicans “splinter over how to deal with Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, the QAnon devotee from Georgia who peddles an array of false conspiracy theories.”
The 30-second TV ads and digital spots began playing today across key local broadcast and cable stations in Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, Omaha, as well as to targeted audiences online. Additionally, ads exposing Minority Leader McCarthy are now running on Washington, DC cable.
WATCH: DCCC Chair Sean Patrick Maloney Discusses New Ads on MSNBC’s Morning Joe
WATCH: MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace on New DCCC Ads
Here’s what else they’re saying about the DCCC’s new ads…
New York Times: New Democratic Ad Campaign Ties G.O.P. to QAnon
By Reid Epstein
As Republicans splinter over how to deal with Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, the QAnon devotee from Georgia who peddles an array of false conspiracy theories, Democrats are seizing on the infighting to make her the avatar for an array of G.O.P. lawmakers.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee on Tuesday began a $500,000 advertising campaign on television and online tying eight House Republicans, including Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the minority leader, to Ms. Greene and QAnon, an effort to force them to make a public affirmation about Ms. Greene.
…In releasing the QAnon-focused ads this week, Democrats are striking at a raw nerve in the Republican Party. Ms. Greene’s radical pronouncements — she indicated support for executing Democratic politicians several years ago — have alarmed even Republicans as well as Democrats. On Monday, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, said the “loony lies and conspiracy theories” embraced by Ms. Greene amounted to a “cancer” on the party.
…“QAnon, a conspiracy theory born online, took over the Republican Party,” the ad’s narrator says, while images of Ms. Greene and Ms. Boebert flash on the screen. “Sent followers to Congress and, with Donald Trump, incited a mob that attacked the Capitol and murdered a cop.”
…Democrats in Washington have adopted Ms. Greene as the symbol of the post-Trump Republican Party, aiming to elevate her profile as part of an effort to divide the G.O.P. while seeking to force Republicans to vote on whether to allow her to remain on House committees.
Politico: House Dems move to yoke GOP to ‘QAnon’
By Ally Mutnick and Sarah Ferris
House Democrats are preparing to center their strategy for the far-off midterm elections on a simple, aggressive message: Republicans are the party of QAnon.
Making an unusually early move to protect their narrow majority, House Democrats’ campaign arm on Tuesday launched its first TV ad campaign, spotlighting supporters of the fringe conspiracy theory — including those who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6. It is the first step in a larger plan, orchestrated by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s new chairman, Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, to exploit the growing friction between Trump hardliners and establishment Republicans in the GOP base, which Maloney sees as a major weak point for the party.
“If Kevin McCarthy wants to take his party to ‘crazy town’ and follow these dangerous ideas, he shouldn’t expect to do well in the next election,” Maloney told POLITICO in an interview previewing the party’s strategy, referring to the House minority leader. “And it’s important to the country that the Democratic Party continues to be the responsible adult.”
Maloney said the campaign message crystallized after the pro-Trump siege on Jan. 6, which was fueled, in part, by false Internet theories. “It was at the heart of the violent attack on the Capitol, but it had its roots going back years,” he said.
…”They can do QAnon, or they can do college-educated voters. They cannot do both,” Maloney said.
…Party strategists are betting that the right’s embrace of the far-fetched conspiracy theory will be politically toxic and hamper their efforts to win back the House in 2022. Already Democrats are seeing some encouraging signs: Challengers in Republican-held districts are beginning to jump off the sidelines, citing the attack last month as a motivation for running.
“Republicans have done a hell of a thing by motivating really top-tier quality candidates to raise their hand,” said Tim Persico, the DCCC’s executive director. “The events of Jan. 6, and the subsequent coddling of QAnon and the refusal to take any responsibility — I think that that has had a profound impact on people’s interest in running.”
…DCCC officials say they’ve studied polling on fringe groups like QAnon and found that the issue does register with most voters: A poll conducted on behalf of the DCCC by two Democratic pollsters found that 68 percent of voters surveyed in battleground districts were familiar with QAnon — and that it had unfavorable rating of 63 percent.
“The American people are knowledgeable about QAnon and know it’s dangerous,” Maloney said.
[…]
Vox: Democrats want to make Marjorie Taylor Greene the face of the GOP
By Gabby Birnbaum
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has increasingly become a thorn in Republican leaders’ side due to her advocacy for various disturbing conspiracy theories. And now Democrats are seeking to weaponize her reputation to their benefit ahead of 2022’s midterm elections.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is launching a $500,000 television and online ad blitz against vulnerable House Republicans that ties them to Greene and to her support of the QAnon conspiracy theory, which falsely claims powerful Democrats are part of a cabal of cannibal pedophiles.
The ad buys are one step in an escalating campaign Democrats are waging against the Congress member, in which they seek to deplatform her in Congress while fundraising off the controversies surrounding her.
Greene has come under fire recently over conspiracy theories she has embraced on social media, which run the gamut from racist and anti-Semitic claims to 9/11 and Parkland shooting denial. Before her election, she also liked posts calling for the execution of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and baselessly asserting that former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton murders children.
Republican leadership knew of Greene’s embrace of QAnon even before she was elected but some top Republicans, hoping to take back control of the House, endorsed her, while others stood idly by. Upon her arrival in Congress, GOP leadership did not ostracize her, but seated her on the Education and Labor and Budget committees.
[…]
The Hill: DCCC ad campaign takes aim at House Republicans over QAnon
By Max Greenwood
…McCarthy in particular has faced growing pressure to strip Greene of her committee assignments. He is expected to meet with her this week.
Democrats, meanwhile, view Greene as a massive liability for Republicans, especially those representing swing districts. Their strategy to tie GOP members to QAnon and Greene resembles Republican efforts last year to link Democratic members to self-described socialists and leftists.
The Democrats’ push to link Republicans to QAnon is also intended to force members to either denounce the conspiracy theory and its supporters or publicly affirm it, a strategy that could prove dangerous for the GOP as they look to recapture a House majority in 2022.
Omaha World Herald: National Dems, already looking to 2022, target Bacon over Trump, Qanon, Capitol riot
By Aaron Sanderford
The 2020 election is barely in the books, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is already taking aim at Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb.
The DCCC is spending half a million dollars on television and digital advertising this week in seven House districts where Democrats think that they can oust a Republican incumbent in 2022, including Nebraska’s Omaha-based 2nd District.
The group said this is the earliest it has bought TV ads in a House race. Last month, the DCCC ran online ads criticizing Bacon and other GOP incumbents after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, which left at least five dead.
The newest ad says Bacon hasn’t held former President Donald Trump accountable for his actions, which some say led to the Capitol attack. The ad says Bacon let Trump and QAnon conspiracy theories take hold of the GOP.
“He stood with Trump and the lies,” the ad says of Bacon and other House Republicans who voted against impeachment last month. “He stood with Q, not you.”
…Bacon endorsed Trump and was endorsed by him before his 2020 win over Democrat Kara Eastman.
Florida Politics: DCCC ad claims Maria Elvira Salazar ‘stood with Q’ in refusing to impeach Donald Trump
By Ryan Nicol
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) came out with another ad hammering Republican Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar after she voted against impeaching former President Donald Trump.
The new ad highlights adherents of the wild QAnon conspiracy who invaded the Capitol. Democrats moved to impeach Trump following the riot, accusing him of inciting the insurrection after parroting lies for weeks that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.
…“QAnon: A conspiracy theory born online took over the Republican Party, sent followers to Congress, and with Donald Trump, incited a mob that took over the Capitol and murdered a cop,” the ad begins.
“Then, Republicans like Maria Elvira Salazar voted to protect Trump, letting the QAnon mob win. Congresswoman Salazar should have stood with us, but she was a coward. She stood with Trump and the lies. Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar: She stood with Q, not you.”
…“Maria Elvira Salazar has made her choice — she chose to cave to the murderous QAnon mob that has taken over her party,” added DCCC Chair Sean Patrick Maloney.
“Washington Republicans are trying to have it both ways — refusing to hold those responsible for the attack on the Capitol accountable, offering nothing but empty words after years of hyping up lies and conspiracy theories. There is no middle ground, but their actions have made one thing clear — no American will be safe from the QAnon mob if Maria Elvira Salazar’s party is in power.”
Dallas Morning News: National Democrats target Republican Beth Van Duyne in television, digital ad campaign
By Gromer Jeffers
National Democrats have unleashed an early attack ad against Republican Rep. Beth Van Duyne, blasting the newly-minted congresswoman for what they describe as “being too weak to stand up to Donald Trump” and the marauders who last month stormed the Capitol.
The ads, which began airing Tuesday on Dallas-area television stations and online, were produced by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Van Duyne, R-Irving, is the sole Texas Republican targeted by the ad blitz. The former Irving mayor and former regional administrator for the Housing and Urban Development Department under Trump voted against certifying Pennsylvania’s results for Joe Biden’s election as president. The vote occurred hours after the mob stormed the Capitol to prevent lawmakers from accepting the results of the Electoral College.
“Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne has made her choice – she chose to cave to the murderous QAnon mob that has taken over her party,” said DCCC Chair Sean Patrick Maloney of New York. “Washington Republicans are trying to have it both ways – refusing to hold those responsible for the attack on the Capitol accountable, offering nothing but empty words after years of hyping up lies and conspiracy theories.”
Van Duyne denounced the Jan. 6 violence but gave credence to allegations that the presidential election was tainted with her vote against certifying the votes of Pennsylvania’s electors.
…“There is no middle ground, but their actions have made one thing clear — no American will be safe from the QAnon mob if Van Duyne’s party is in power,” Maloney said.
…The political targeting of Van Duyne occurs less than a month since she took office and nearly two years before she’s up for reelection. It signals that national Democrats will again make the Texas District 24 seat in Congress a priority, and try to weaken Van Duyne before a Democratic challenger emerges.
[…]
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