An anti-Trump group is launching a new million-dollar campaign calling for the resignation of GOP lawmakers who showed loyalty to former President Donald Trump.
In addition to the seven-figure ad buy, The Republican Accountability Project vowed to combine with other groups to spend as much as $50 million between now and the 2022 midterm elections, targeting Republicans who voted against certifying some Electoral College votes for President Biden earlier this month.
Billboard campaigns by the group target several Republicans, including Sens. Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Other House Republicans in the campaign’s crosshairs are Reps. Devin Nunes, Elise Stefanik, Jim Jordan, Louie Gohmert, Madison Cawthorne, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Mo Brooks, and Dan Bishop.
One billboard the group is behind shows a picture of Cruz and reads, “You lied about the election. The Capitol was attacked. Sen. Cruz: Resign.”
Sarah Longwell, executive director of the project, said the campaign will attack “people who are the most enthusiastic about lying to their constituencies about the election being stolen.”
“The goal is to not allow these officials to memory-hole the fact that they pushed this lie, which incited the attack on the Capitol,” Longwell said.
Two others involved in the project include Olivia Troye, ex-Homeland Security adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence, and Elizabeth Neumann, former assistant secretary of counterterrorism and threat reduction for the Department of Homeland Security.
“Those who encouraged and continue to encourage the insurrection against the government must be held accountable for their votes, and we will ensure that they will be in 2022,” Troye and Neumann wrote in a Wednesday op-ed in USA TODAY.
Ahead of 2022, both major parties will seek to defend their seats next year, given the tight Senate majority currently led by Democrats. Republicans will have to defend 20 of their Senate seats in 2022, while Democrats will defend 14.
