FL-02: House Majority PAC Congratulates Gwen Graham
November 5, 2014
Washington, D.C. – House Majority PAC congratulates Representative-Elect Gwen Graham on her election in Florida’s Second Congressional District.
“Steve Southerland has shown time and again that he is out of touch with the voters of North Florida and they made their displeasure known today,” said Ali Lapp, Executive Director of House Majority PAC. “House Majority PAC was proud to play a part in making sure Gwen Graham can fight in Washington for reasonable, responsible government – not extreme partisanship.”
Early summer polling showed this district to be one of the most competitive in the country. Southerland had voted to shut down the government, leaving North Florida families behind, and voters in the district had noticed. Gwen Graham was running a solid campaign focusing on economic growth and middle-class job creation. Graham was a strong fundraiser and her campaign started introducing her early on TV over the summer. It was up to House Majority PAC to come in after Labor Day and hold Southerland accountable for his harmful votes against seniors, veterans, and North Florida families. We were on air with three TV ads in September, totaling almost $400k.
We knew this would be a potential pickup opportunity, so House Majority PAC started polling and conducting focus groups in FL-02 in 2013, watching the race closely. As the race came together, so did House Majority PAC’s coordination of message and programming with seven allied Democratic groups. While Graham’s campaign was busy talking with voters about moving North Florida forward, Southerland’s campaign hosted a men-only fundraiser and continued to disrespect Gwen Graham with offensive comments.
Republican outside groups started pouring money into the district and ended up spending almost $4 million on Southerland’s behalf.
House Majority PAC coordinated a second wave of TV for the last week of the election, totaling $139k, and worked with allied groups to ensure no day of TV was left uncovered on the Democratic side. We also produced a robust mail program, a digital program, and a canvass program that resulted in tens of thousands of door knocks.
In the end, the pick up in FL-02 was a robust independent expenditure program led by House Majority PAC, with help from many allied groups that lifted a strong campaign across the finish line.
HMP spent the following in this district: $987,140
HMP aired the following ads in this district:
“Game”: http://www.
“Their Games”: http://www.
“Here”: http://www.
“PTSD”: http://www.
“Wow”: http://www.
“Dishonest”: http://www.