The Judicial Crisis Network will spend $10 million on a new ad campaign pressuring vulnerable Senate Democrats to help confirm Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee.
The Judicial Crisis Network, which spent $7 million on ads to help keep the seat created by Justice Antonin Scalia’s death empty through the election, is partnering with conservatives to launch a coordinated national campaign for the high court seat. The new ad campaign targets Democratic senators from predominantly red states that Trump won in 2016.
“We are preparing to launch the most robust campaign for a Supreme Court nominee in history and we will force vulnerable senators up for re-election in 2018 like Joe Donnelly [of Indiana] and Claire McCaskill [of Missouri] to decide between keeping their Senate seats or following Chuck Schumer’s liberal, obstructionist agenda,” said Carrie Severino, Judicial Crisis Network chief counsel and policy director, in a statement. “Any vulnerable senator who signs up for Schumer’s obstructionist strategy will pay a heavy price in 2018.”
Other conservative groups involved in the Judicial Crisis Network’s efforts include Tea Party Patriots and America Rising Squared. Tea Party Patriots will work on in-state grassroots and local media operations while America Rising will spearhead the national campaign’s research and rapid response operations.
Trump has not yet named his Supreme Court pick, but future White House chief of staff Reince Priebus has said the president-elect would make a decision around Inauguration Day.
