The GOP establishment-tied American Action Network is up with more than $500,000 worth of advertising thanking Republicans who voted to fund the Department of Homeland Security, an early move to ward off potential primary challengers.
{mosads}The ads defend the minority of House Republicans who sided with Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and voted to fund the DHS through September without including riders targeting President Obama’s executive actions on immigration.
The organization, which has ties to House Republican leadership, is running $350,000 in TV ads for Reps. Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.), Susan Brooks (R-Ind.), Dan Benishek (R-Mich.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.).
Ellmers has had the strongest rumor of a primary challenge, while Young and Brooks are both thought to be strong candidates for statewide office in Indiana at some point in the future who have establishment ties.
“Our security. Are you worried about it?” says the ad running in Ellmers’s district. The spot goes on to praise Ellmers as a “conservative champion” who is “fighting for a stronger, safer America.”
The group is also running digital ads for 16 other House Republicans: Reps. Vern Buchanan (Fla.), John Carter (Texas), Tom Cole (Okla.), Chris Collins (N.Y.), Jeff Denham (Calif.), Tom Emmer (Minn.), Kay Granger (Texas), John Kline (Minn.), Michael McCaul (Texas), Candice Miller (Mich.), Kristi Noem (S.D.), Devin Nunes (Calif.), Robert Pittenger (N.C.), Joe Pitts (Pa.), John Shimkus (Ill.) and Glenn Thompson (Pa.).