Club for Growth launches ad against Democrats over social spending bill

The conservative group Club for Growth announced on Friday that it had launched digital ads against five Democrats, pushing their constituents to get their lawmakers to vote against a $1.75 trillion social spending bill.

“Prices on gas, groceries, cars, housing — going through the roof. Josh Gottheimer caved in. Promised to stop the left from raising our taxes, now says he’ll vote ‘yes.’ Tell Gottheimer, ‘Don’t betray us. Vote no like you promised,’ ” one digital ad says. 

The ad buy from Club for Growth comes amid a report from the Labor Department that showed inflation had reached a 30-year high. The Consumer Price Index, which tracks inflation for several goods and services, rose 0.9 percent last month and 6.2 percent in the 12-month period ending in October. 

The latest numbers from the Labor Department elicited a statement from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), a moderate and key player in the 50-50 Senate. Manchin stated that lawmakers in Washington could no longer ignore inflation. 

Similar versions of the digital ad also target Reps. Ed Case (D-Hawaii), Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.) and Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.). Club for Growth said that the five digital ads were launched in the five congressional districts and were a part of a larger $2.5 million media buy.

“These five Democrats promised their constituents that they would vote against Biden’s radical tax-and-spend bill and now they’re betraying them,” Club for Growth President David McIntosh said in a statement. “With prices skyrocketing across the country, American families don’t want more government spending that will only make inflation worse.”

The five Democrats targeted released a joint statement earlier this month saying that they would vote for the social spending bill if Congressional Budget Office (CBO) fiscal information aligned with White House estimates.

Gottheimer remained optimistic earlier this week that the two sources of fiscal information would “match up.”

“We received a slew of data this past week from the Treasury Department and from the White House and some early Congressional Budget Office analysis. We’re expecting to receive more in the next seven to 10 days,” the moderate Democrat told “State of the Union” co-anchor Dana Bash on CNN.

“We expect it all to match up with what was presented and we’ll move forward. That is what I believe will happen,” he added.

The CBO began releasing estimates for the social spending bill earlier this week for four of the House committees’ legislation and noted that no money would be added to the deficit after 10 years in the areas assessed. 

The Hill has reached out to all five Democrats’ offices for comment.