Campaign

Liberal group funds $500K in attack ads after healthcare vote

by Ben Kamisar - 05/08/17 10:39 AM ET

A liberal healthcare group is putting more than $500,000 behind attack ads aimed at 24 GOP lawmakers who voted for the party’s plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare last week.

The new ad from progressive group Save My Care blasts the plan as “disastrous,” noting the opposition of key groups such as the American Medical Association and AARP. It also leans on a previous analysis by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, which found that 24 million people would lose insurance under the plan.

While the CBO hasn’t had time to score the new legislation, it did score an earlier version in March.

{mosads}The mixture of digital and television ads are the latest spending by liberal groups looking to tar vulnerable Republican lawmakers for supporting the controversial bill, which narrowly passed the House past Thursday.

Democrats hope that the bill’s passage in the House could shift the playing field to their advantage ahead of the 2018 midterms, and many of the lawmakers targeted are the more vulnerable House Republicans.

The 24 GOP lawmakers who are targeted include: Reps. Don Young (Alaska), Martha McSally (Ariz.), Jeff Denham (Calif.), David Valadao (Calif.), Steve Knight (Calif.), Mimi Walters (Calif.), Darrell Issa (Calif.), Brian Mast (Fla.), Carlos Curbelo (Fla.), David Young (Iowa), Peter Roskam (Ill.), Bruce Poliquin (Maine), Tim Walberg (Mich.), Jason Lewis (Minn.), Erik Paulsen (Minn.), Don Bacon (Neb.), Tom MacArthur (N.J.), Mark Amodei (Nev.), Lee Zeldin (N.Y.), John Faso (N.Y), Elise Stefanik (N.Y.), Pete Sessions (Texas), Scott Taylor (Va.) and Dave Brat (Va.).

Nine of those lawmakers saw their districts given more competitive rankings for the 2018 midterms by the Cook Political Report in response to the healthcare vote.