Democratic Super PAC Targets Nine House Republicans Over Government Shutdown

October 3, 2013

WASHINGTON — House Majority PAC, one of the largest Democratic super PACs, on Thursday launched a television- and online-advertising campaign targeting nine Republican congressmen over the government shutdown.

The super PAC is focusing on the vulnerable lawmakers in online ads and websites through Google and Bing search, and Facebook. Four of the nine Republicans also will face television ads running in their districts starting this week. The entire campaign costs in the mid-six figures.

“Voters deserve to know about their members’ role in the Republican government shutdown and their willingness to play reckless and dangerous games with our nation’s economy,” House Majority PAC spokesman Andy Stone said in a statement.

Reps. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.)Joe Heck (R-Nev.), David Joyce (R-Ohio) and Steve Southerland (R-Fla.) are targeted in television ads. The TV ads castigate the Republicans for “playing a dangerous game” in shutting down the government. One ad uses local newspaper headlines to label the shutdown “full-blown insanity.”

Reps. Gary Miller (R-Calif.), Rodney Davis (R-Ill.), Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Penn.), Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) and John Kline (R-Minn.) face online attacks, as do Coffman, Heck, Joyce and Southerland. The online ads will be tied to candidate-specific websites, like www.TellJohnKline.com, which include links to petitions telling the congressmen “to stop this dangerous and harmful brinkmanship”

Five of these Republicans represent districts won by President Barack Obama in the 2012 election and another two represent districts Obama lost by less than 1 percent.

Davis, Fitzpatrick and Grimm are among the 20 House Republicans, as ofWednesday afternoon, who had called for Republican leadership to bring a clean continuing resolution to the House floor for a vote to end the government shutdown.