Planned Parenthood’s political arm is spending more than $2 million to influence key Senate races in North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada and Pennsylvania.
The group announced Thursday it will air television and digital ads hitting incumbent Republican Sens. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, and Rep. Joe Heck, the Republican seeking the seat of outgoing Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. The group is also sending out mailers attacking North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr.
The ads are part of a massive, unprecedented effort by Planned Parenthood to influence the outcome of the 2016 elections. The group is targeting Republicans in the most competitive Senate races to try to tilt the chamber’s majority back to Democrats.
“There’s so much at stake in the Senate races this year,” Deiredre Schifeling, executive director of Planned Parenthood Votes, said in a statement. “Each one of these Republican Senate candidates has voted to defund Planned Parenthood and staked out positions that threaten millions of women across this country.”
The ads attack the Republicans for voting to strip Planned Parenthood of taxpayer dollars, and for opposing abortion rights in general.
The contests in Nevada, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and New Hampshire are among eight toss-up Senate races, according to an analysis by RealClearPolitics.
