A group led by conservative activist David Bossie is expanding an ad campaign pushing Democrats in districts won by President Trump to vote against impeachment.
Seven House members are targeted in ads launched Monday, Bossie told the Washington Examiner, expanding an ad campaign the group launched last month.
“They know they can’t compete, so they try to impeach,” the video ads say, after a montage promoting Trump’s accomplishments. Text accompanying the digital ads urges viewers to call the target’s congressional office.
There are 31 House Democrats in districts that Trump won in 2016. If all of them vote against impeachment, Trump would avoid becoming the third president impeached.
[Read more: House Democrats in Trump-won districts comfortable moving ahead with impeachment despite political peril]
“We have been and continue to put lead on the target of exactly where these vulnerable Democrat congressmen and women are, making sure they feel the pain of this absolutely political witch hunt they are calling an impeachment,” Bossie said.
In the next two weeks, the group, Presidential Coalition, will spend $10,000 against each target, Bossie said. Most of the ads will be on Facebook, he said. The targets are Arizona Rep. Tom O’Halleran, Iowa Rep. Cindy Axne, Michigan Rep. Haley Stevens, Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson, Pennsylvania Rep. Matt Cartwright, Pennsylvania Rep. Conor Lamb, and Wisconsin Rep. Ron Kind.
Eighteen House Democrats have been targeted by the organization. In November, the Presidential Coalition launched $1.2 million in ads that targeted five congressional districts with TV spots and ran digital ads in nine states that have 13 Democrats in Trump-won districts. The seven lawmakers targeted by new ads are in those states.
The five lawmakers who were targeted by the group in the past are Michigan Rep. Dan Kildee, New Mexico Rep. Xochitl Torres Small, New York Rep. Anthony Brindisi, Utah Rep. Adam McAdams, and South Carolina Rep. Joe Cunningham.
Other pro-Trump groups have poured cash into ads targeting vulnerable Democrats. Last week, the super PAC America First Action put $2.26 million toward ads targeting 27 House Democrats, after allocating $1 million toward similar ads in October.
There are some signs Bossie’s efforts could pay off. Two Democratic lawmakers — Peterson and Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey — voted against endorsing an impeachment investigation. Van Drew said last week he will vote against all articles of impeachment.
In May, the Trump campaign called the Presidential Coalition’s solicitations “deceptive” after reporting the Citizens United-affiliated group raised $18.5 million in 2017 and 2018 but spent just $425,000 on political activities. Banishment from Trump’s orbit generally is brief, and Trump reportedly made up with Bossie — a deputy campaign manager of his 2016 campaign — in August during a White House meeting after he pleaded his case.
Bossie, who interviewed with Trump in December 2018 for the position of White House chief of staff, said the new ads are intended “to educate the American people about just what a ridiculous farce this impeachment effort is, in addition to the tremendous Trump accomplishments that the Democrats have stood in the way of.”
