Centrist Democratic PAC ties vulnerable Republicans to MTG, Boebert, and House chaos

A centrist Democratic political action committee launched an ad campaign on Friday targeting several vulnerable House Republicans by tying them to hard-line Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and the struggle for the GOP conference to select a speaker.

As part of its “Flip Five” campaign, the Welcome PAC is working to encourage five of the 11 Republican representatives hailing from districts won by President Joe Biden in 2020 to join Democrats in selecting Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) as the next speaker.

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Each of the targeted members is part of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus. The group is urging constituents to tell the at-risk representatives to join the 212 Democratic lawmakers to bring Jeffries to 217 votes, electing him speaker. This comes as no Republican representative has been able to obtain the necessary votes despite the party holding the majority in the House.

The new digital ads look to constituents of Reps. Mike Lawler (R-NY), Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-OR), Don Bacon (R-NE), and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA). The ad buy informs voters in their respective districts of Republicans’ struggle in selecting a speaker and asks that they call and ask their representative to support Jeffries instead.

Courtesy of Welcome PAC

The ads began running on Friday in each pivotal district.

One ad targeted at Lawler includes a photo of Boebert and Greene next to the New York Republican. It reads, “Tell Mike Lawler to put country over party,” alongside his office phone numbers.

“With the House in chaos, now is truly the time for a bipartisan coalition. Voters in these districts responded to messages of bipartisanship, and sent a Democrat to the White House and a Republican to Congress. These Republican Problem Solvers have an opportunity to fulfill their campaign pledges of bipartisanship by accepting Democratic outreach to form a stable governing coalition. By informing their voters, we can encourage compromise over chaos,” Welcome PAC co-founder Liam Kerr said.

The PAC, which was launched in 2021, spent over $2 million last year to support centrist Democrats with the ability to win over swing voters and Republican voters.

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Since the historic ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), the House Republican Conference has struggled to put forward a new speaker nominee. The conference selected Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) earlier this week, but he quickly withdrew his name when it became clear he could not win over certain GOP holdouts.

While Republicans have become publicly frustrated over fractures within the conference, Democrats have remained a united front, prepared to vote Jeffries for speaker.