Gun control group launches ad campaign in Texas GOP districts

The Everytown for Gun Safety Victory Fund rolled out a $250,000 ad campaign Monday focusing on Republican-held House seats in Texas.

The gun control group’s ads will run in districts held by Reps. Dan Crenshaw, Michael McCaul, John Carter and Chip Roy, as well as the state’s 24th Congressional District, where Beth Van Duyne is running for Congress.

The Cook Political Report rates the 24th District a “toss-up,” while McCaul’s and Roy’s seats are rated “lean Republican.” Crenshaw’s and Carter’s seats are classified as “likely Republican.”

Earlier this year, Everytown announced its intent to spend a minimum of $60 million nationwide in the 2020 elections.

The new ads are part of the group’s $8 million effort to pressure Republican candidates with ties to the gun rights lobby. The effort, titled “Gun Sense Majority: Texas,” is also focusing on 20 state-level races. The group said it needs to flip nine seats in order to have a “gun sense majority” in the Texas legislature.

“We’re investing in Texas because this state has one of the highest rates of gun violence deaths in the country,” Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, a part of Everytown for Gun Safety, told reporters in February.