A major anti-abortion group is trying to influence two key Senate races with a six-figure online ad buy in the final week of the election.
The Susan B. Anthony List said it is aiming to reach 550,000 abortion-opposing voters in Missouri and North Carolina who need to be persuaded to turn out on Election Day and vote for Republican Sens. Roy Blunt and Richard Burr, who are in tough battles for their seats. The group wouldn’t disclose how much it is spending on the ad buy beyond “six figures.”
The group, which aims to elect abortion-opposing candidates, particularly women, to office, said its ground team has knocked on the doors of more than one million voters. That’s more than double the number of doors its volunteers knocked on two years ago. The group and its super PAC, Women Speak Out, also has been focusing on Senate races in Florida and Ohio.
“Our 2016 ground operation is an unprecedented effort demonstrating the political muscle of the pro-life movement,” SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser said. “SBA List and Women Speak Out have been on the ground since last October, spending the past year working with statewide pro-life activists on a massive scale to reach 1 million voters directly at their homes, cutting through the noise of television and radio ads.”
Polls show Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Sen. Rob Portman have leads over their Democratic opponents, but Blunt and Burr are neck-and-neck with their challengers in Missouri and North Carolina, respectively. Republicans are hoping to retain control of the Senate, even if Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton wins the White House.
Dannenfelser is heading a “pro-life coalition” supporting Clinton’s opponent, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
