The nonprofit arm of the Republican Accountability Project is launching ads across all the closest swing states of the 2020 presidential race.
An anti-Trump Republican group already spending millions of dollars this fall to oppose election-conspiracy candidates is now upping its investment.
In a $3 million ad buy launching Monday, the Republican Accountability Project’s nonprofit arm is setting out to remind voters in seven critical swing states of what happened Jan. 6, 2021 — a message they believe will resonate with some traditional Republican voters they hope to peel off from the Trump base in the party.
The organization’s television and digital ad campaign, shared exclusively with POLITICO, includes footage of Donald Trump supporters beating police officers at the Capitol, messages from self-identified Republicans opposing Trump and commentary from Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the ranking member of the House Jan. 6 committee, who has defied her party to spotlight Trump’s role in the Capitol attack.
“As Americans, we all have a duty to ensure that what happened on Jan. 6 never happens again,” Cheney says in one of the ads.
For the next three weeks, the ads will appear during local broadcast news in major markets in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — states that were decided by a handful of percentage points in the 2020 presidential race (and where 2022 midterm races feature some of the most prominent election deniers in the country, like GOP gubernatorial nominees Doug Mastriano of Pennsylvania and Kari Lake of Arizona). RAP will also promote its ads on digital platforms across those states, and a spokesperson for the group said it may extend the ad buy.
“We’re really trying to make the Jan. 6 findings stick with swing voters,” said Sarah Longwell, executive director of Republican Accountability Project, a group whose board is chaired by prominent Never Trump commentator Bill Kristol.
Anti-Trump GOP group spends big to shrink his base – POLITICO