EXCLUSIVE — A political action committee affiliated with House Republican leadership is kicking off $3 million in ad spending in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District with a 30-second spot attacking incumbent Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger.
The ad, released by the Congressional Leadership Fund on Wednesday, depicts Spanberger as a “Pelosi mini-me,” saying she votes in lock step with the Democratic House speaker. The battleground 7th District is one of the GOP’s best pickup opportunities as the midterm elections approach.
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“Abigail Spanberger votes 100% with [Nancy] Pelosi,” the voiceover says. “When Pelosi wanted to spend taxpayer money that went to bail out golf courses, Spanberger voted yes. Stimulus checks to criminals? Yes again. Spanberger helped pass Pelosi’s new middle-class tax hike that even hits families making $75,000 or less. Liberal Abigail Spanberger: She’s got Pelosi’s back. Not ours.”
The bills referenced include the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill that included funding for multiple golf courses. ProPublica, cited in the ad, says that Spanberger has cast the same vote as Pelosi in all 124 votes of the 117th Congress. That percentage was 92% for the 116th Congress.
Nonetheless, Spanberger recently blasted Pelosi for not moving promptly on a bill that would ban most government officials from trading stocks.
“After first signaling her opposition to these reforms, the Speaker purportedly reversed her position. However, our bipartisan reform coalition was then subjected to repeated delay tactics, hand-waving gestures, and blatant instances of Lucy pulling the football,” Spanberger said in a statement.
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The CLF’s ad is the first of the $3 million the PAC is pouring into the district to bolster the GOP’s chance of flipping the seat. Republican candidate Yesli Vega, a former police officer and county supervisor, is considered a strong contender. Biden won the district in 2020 by about 1 point, but Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin won it by over 10 points. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the race as slightly favoring Spanberger.
Republicans need a net gain of five seats in order to flip the lower chamber. CLF, which is associated with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, announced Monday that it was allocating an additional $14 million to battleground races. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is coming to Spanberger’s defense with a new ad of its own.
