Four Senate Republicans in tough re-elections will receive eight-figures’ worth of advertising help from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the business group announced Friday.
The chamber said that it would be running ads starting Friday to aid Ohio’s Rob Portman in his race against former governor Ted Strickland and New Hampshire’s Kelly Ayotte, who faces a challenge from Gov. Maggie Hassan.
Those spots are to be followed by buys for Ron Johnson in Wisconsin and Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania.
The ads, which focus on contrasting the Republican candidates with their Democratic opponents on matters of government spending, taxing and healthcare programs, would be the first in a series running through July, according to the chamber.
Rob Engstrom, the chamber’s national political director, said the group was “laser focused on our mission,” namely maintaining a “a pro-business majority in the U.S. Senate.”
The chamber played a significant role in helping Republicans win the majority in 2014, and that majority is now threatened in an election year featuring several Republicans running in purple or blue states.
The chamber has more at stake in maintaining a friendly majority in the Senate given that both the general election presidential candidates are at odds with the group on some of its priorities.
Earlier in the cycle, the chamber’s leadership had suggested that they would weigh in on the presidential campaign if candidates made statements threatening the free enterprise system. In January, chamber President Tom Donohue did criticize Donald Trump without mentioning him by name, decrying the “very loud” voices in the GOP campaign calling for immigration restrictions and trade barriers.
The chamber, however, traditionally has stayed out of directly spending on presidential campaigns and has said that it has no plans to change that policy.
