A top conservative group that stayed off the airwaves during last year’s confirmation battle for Justice Neil Gorsuch plans to target red state Senate Democrats this time around to pressure them into backing President Trump’s second Supreme Court pick.
The political arm of Club for Growth is looking at launching ads in Wisconsin, West Virginia, Indiana, Tennessee, Missouri, and Florida as soon as Trump selects his nominee to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy. The name will come from a list of 25 conservative candidates who have been carefully vetted by the White House counsel’s office and the influential legal group the Federalist Society.
“In 2016, our membership voted on a resolution that the Club should be engaged in Supreme Court and appellate court nominations. So this time we want to target bipartisan support in obvious states,” Club for Growth President David McIntosh told the Washington Examiner.
McIntosh said the group could also target Senate Republicans who might waver on an ultra-conservative Supreme Court nominee. Democrats have already suggested two of their moderate GOP colleagues — Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — might be less inclined to support a candidate who favors curbing abortion protections and LGBT rights.
“Any Republicans who seem to go soft, we could target them with ads,” McIntosh said, adding that “it’s important that we have a true conservative” added to the bench.
At least two other prominent conservative organizations have already launched ads targeting vulnerable Senate Democrats since Kennedy announced Wednesday his intent to retired.
Among them is One Nation, an outside group aligned with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., which launched a multi-state ad campaign Thursday morning to urge Senate Democrats in 10 states to support a conservative nominee. The Judicial Crisis Network is also said to be planning a seven-figure ad buy this week to boost the Supreme Court issue, according to Politico.
McIntosh said he isn’t worried about pressuring vulnerable Democrats into supporting Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, knowing that if they do vote in favor of the president’s pick, it could be touted as a show of bipartisan support just before the midterm elections.
“I’m a big believer in pushing people to do the right thing,” he said.
Other conservative groups, including the National Republican Senatorial Committee, have yet to indicate whether they will place pressure on Democrats as the confirmation process gets underway.
