Senate Leadership Fund launches $6 million ad buy across six battleground states
The Senate Leadership Fund, the super PAC aligned with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, is pouring another $6.45 million into battleground states as the group hopes to keep the pressure up on Democrats in marquee races.
The group announced Monday more than $1 million spending in each of the following states: Tennessee, Indiana, Missouri and Nevada. West Virginia will see another $800,000 while the group spends another $350,000 in North Dakota. The ad buys include spots on television, radio and digital platforms across all of the states.
SLF is spending the most of that new money, $1.8 million, on ads attacking Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill on her immigration votes. It specifically accuses her of voting for "amnesty" for backing the 2013 compromise immigration bill authored by the Senate's "Gang of Eight," and criticizes her for votes not to punish jurisdictions that don't follow federal immigration laws, known as sanctuary cities.
"After 12 years in the Senate, McCaskill has gone Washington and left Missouri behind," the ad's narrator says at the close.
McCaskill is running against Republican Attorney General Josh Hawley in one of the country's toughest Senate races.
The Democrat's campaign pushed back on the ad in a fact-check that called the spot a "desperate attack," arguing it obscured the facts about her support for immigration compromises and to "crack down" on sanctuary cities.
"Claire is endorsed by the National Border Patrol Council and has led efforts to reform our immigration system and support stronger border security," McCaskill press secretary Eric Mee said in a statement.
The $1.1 million buy attacking Tennessee Democrat Phil Bredesen calls him "out of touch" for opposing the GOP's tax cuts; the $1.4 million buy in Indiana touts Republican Mike Braun's support from President Trump; the $1 million in attacks on Nevada Democratic Rep. Jacky Rosen tie her to the blame game on government shutdowns this year; the $800,000 in West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin re-up attacks on him voting with former President Obama; and the ads in North Dakota hit Heitkamp as a "rubber stamp" for the "Washington liberal agenda" on immigration.