Memo Published November 13, 2020 · 7 minute read
Under Attack: The GOP Advertising Assault on Swing State Dems
Aliza Astrow
As the 2020 election results continue to roll in, it is clear that despite Democrats’ success at the top of the ticket, some Republican attacks hit home down-ballot, denying Democrats the Senate and propelling losses in the House. Republicans hammered Democrats on a few key issues: tax increases, socialized medicine, defunding the police, supporting climate policies like the Green New Deal that would hurt the oil and gas industry, as well as generally being too liberal and controlled by the liberal establishment in Washington. While most of the candidates running in these competitive seats did not support Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, defunding the police, or other far-left policy ideas or bumper stickers, the ads repeatedly told voters that people who supported and bankrolled these candidates do. As much as many of the candidates in swing states and districts tried to paint themselves as independent and eager to work with anyone, Republicans were able to overwhelm too many of them by tying them back to Washington liberals and unpopular far-left tag lines.
Below are the publicly available attack ads that were run against competitive Democratic Senate candidates, Frontline Democratic House Members, and competitive Red-to-Blue House candidates who lost their races. The Red-to-Blue candidates included here were rated “Tossup” or “Lean-D” by the Cook Political Report, or they were in districts that Hillary Clinton carried in 2016 or that Joe Biden carried in 2020.
Senate
Maine – Sara Gideon
Taxes: Who Is It?
Taxes & Economy: No Big Deal
Guns (Radio Ad): Proud Tradition
Defund the Police: Defund
Corporate Money: Hypocrisy
Sexual misconduct cover-up: Power
Corona stimulus money hypocrisy: Independent
South Carolina – Jaime Harrison
Defund the Police: Crazy to Me
China: Too Close to China
Swamp: Part of the DC Swamp
Experience and Too Liberal: Come On
DC Liberal Lobbyist, Supreme Court: What else?
Outside liberal money: Don’t Let Liberals Buy South Carolina and Cashopoly
Nancy Pelosi, Liberal, Late term abortion, health care for undocumented: Left Out
North Carolina – Cal Cunningham
Affair: Hypocrisy
Affair and Veterans: Code
Judges: Joe Biden’s Judges
Defund the police, economy: Save Our Economy & Defend Law Enforcement
Taxes: Wallet
Montana – Steve Bullock
Health care and taxes: Health care
Guns: Second Amendment
Defund the Police and Socialism: Sheriff Shane
Far Left: Gov Controlled Health Care, Carbon Tax, Sanctuary Cities, Guns, Taxes: Far Left
China, Taxes, Jobs: Ed
Corruption: Oh Brother
Sexual harassment and unequal pay for women: Even Darker
Iowa – Theresa Greenfield
Failed business woman: Phony
Out of state money, liberal, border crossings, gov controlled health care: Seventy Million
Economy, jobs, small business, health care: Pain
Defund the police: Out of Control and Stop Them
China, Jobs, Environmental Regulations: Cost Your Family
Kansas – Barbara Bollier
Court packing: Bad Idea
Gov controlled health care, taxes: With Them
House – Frontline Members
NM-02 – Xochitl Torres Small
Partisan liberal, votes with Pelosi and Squad: Slick Ads, Just Votes, and Easy
Votes with Pelosi and supported impeachment: Anyone, Impeachment
Higher taxes: Biden
Bad for oil and gas industry: Oil and gas, LCV Backs XTS
Supports gun control, bad for oil and gas industry: Stop
Supports gun control: Posing
FL-27 – Donna Shalala
COVID stock transactions: Donna Shalala Broke the Law and Can't Be Trusted, Five Dollars
OK-5 – Kendra Horn
Partisan liberal, votes with Pelosi and Squad: Not as advertised, Proxy vote for Nancy Pelosi
Bad for oil and gas industry: Time after Time, Good Game, Whole Life, Tradition
Taxpayer funded abortion: Kendra Horn Supports Taxpayer-Funded Abortion
FL-26 – Debbie Mucarsel-Powell
Corruption: Clouds of suspicion, Familiar, Warlord
Partisan liberal, votes with Pelosi and Squad: The Choice
MN-7 – Collin Peterson
Allowing partisan impeachment to continue: Impeachment
Votes with Nancy Pelosi and Squad: Defeat Collin Peterson, Neutered, Bandwagon,
Corrupt, charged taxpayers for travel: Auto
SC-1 – Joe Cunningham
Hypocrite and liar, taking money from lobbyists and oil and gas: Slick
Partisan liberal, votes with Pelosi and Squad: Promises, Getting Worse, Red, Glow, Sell It, Better, Acting, Nada
Higher taxes: Formula, Sell It
Supreme Court: Court
Energy agreement with China hurting American jobs: Jobs
IA-1 – Abby Finkenauer
Supports socialist healthcare, will hurt rural hospitals and raise taxes: How much is your life worth, Our Towns, 127,
Corrupt: Personal
Partisan liberal, votes with Pelosi and Squad, supported impeachment: Focus, Directions
NY-11 – Max Rose
Defund the Police: Defund, A Billion Reasons
Partisan liberal, votes with Pelosi: Puppet Strings
NY-22 – Anthony Brindisi
Not supporting law enforcement: In Danger
Too liberal, votes with Pelosi: Our Part, Total Disaster, Made it Clear, Lied, Willing to reach, Anyone but Trump
CA-48 – Harley Rouda
His business discriminated against older and sick people, now supports socialized medicine: In the Business
His business didn’t pay taxes, but Rouda wants to raise taxes: Taxes, Shell Game
His business outsourced American jobs to China: Shady
CA-39 – Gil Cisneros
Voted for Pelosi after saying he wouldn’t, votes with Pelosi: Gil Cisneros Caved, Deceived
House – Red to Blue Candidates
TX-23 – Gina Ortiz-Jones
Supports taxpayer-funded sex changes: Not the time
Partisan liberal, votes with Nancy Pelosi and Squad, hurting oil and gas jobs with Green New Deal: Voices of San Francisco, Death sentence
NY-24 – Dana Balter
Medicare for All: Have to pay
Protested killing of Soleimani: Bartlett
Supports bail reform: White Van, Award
AR-02 – Joyce Elliott
Defund the police: Joke
Higher taxes, bad for economy: Side, Never Stop, Bad Enough
Taxpayer-funded abortion: Radio ad
AZ-06 – Hiral Tipirneni
Higher taxes, supporting loans to China: Geography
Standing with Pelosi, supporting loans to China: Like a Boss
Green New Deal, will destroy energy jobs: Bad Deal
IL-13 – Betsy Londrigan
Support from corrupt Jim Madigan: His Heart, Lesson, Walls
IN-05 – Christina Hale
Defund the Police: Radical Agenda
Backed by special interests in DC and China: China, Guess Again
Higher taxes: By the Dozen, Guess Who
MI-03 – Hillary Scholten
Sanctuary cities, open borders: Dangerously Liberal
MN-01 – Dan Feehan
Supports money to Iran, funding terrorism: Terrorism
Votes with Pelosi and the Squad, will destroy health care: Pretender
Medicare for All: Bad Prescription
Defund the Police: Talk is Cheap
Supports raising taxes: Can’t Afford It
MO-02 – Jill Schupp
Medicare for All: M4ALL, Lying
Soft on crime: Crime
Too liberal, supports socialist healthcare, taxes, gun control, abortion: How Liberal
Ineffective partisan: Ineffective, Remember
Higher taxes: A Lot
Corrupt: Our Money
NE-02 – Kara Eastman
Defund the Police: Dangerous
Liberal: Steak, Extremist, Nightmare, Pennies
Medicare for All: Trust
NJ-02 – Amy Kennedy
Partisan Liberal, will raise taxes: Smartphone, Plan
OH-01 – Kate Schroder
Higher taxes and Green New Deal: Need to Know, Groceries, Totally, Notice, Special
PA-10 – Eugene DePasquale
Corrupt campaign contributions: Birds, Education, Values, Dirty Hands, Follow the Money
Made it easier for lawyers to bankrupt businesses: Bankrupt
Medicare for All, Green New Deal, Defund the Police: M4ALL
TX-10 – Mike Siegel
Defund the Police and abolish prisons: Dangerous
TX-21 – Wendy Davis
Corrupt: Homeless, Interruption, Conflicts, Selfish
Tax increases and loans to China: Bad Loans
Defund the Police: Fairytales
TX-22 – Sri Kulkarni
Socialist health care, will raise taxes: Lone Star Leader, For All, Reckless
VA-05 – Cameron Webb
Defund the Police: He Means It, Own Words, Radical Left
TX-24 – Candace Valenzuela
Radical liberal plans, defund the police: Afford, Dangerous
Extreme on Immigration: Extreme Agenda: abolish ICE, weaken border, defund police
Conclusion
While these candidates ran strong campaigns, the election results showed that many of the ad nauseum attacks portraying them as part of the liberal establishment and supporting policies like Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, defunding the police, and raising taxes ultimately succeeded. It will be up to Democrats to look back at these attacks and shore up their defenses so they are less vulnerable in 2022.
