Republicans Revive Crime Attacks in 36-Day Midterm Sprint as Democrats Counter With $10 Million Ad Push
Updated
Updated · POLITICO · Sep 28
Republicans Revive Crime Attacks in 36-Day Midterm Sprint as Democrats Counter With $10 Million Ad Push
3 articles · Updated · POLITICO · Sep 28
Summary
With 36 days until the midterms, Republicans in key Senate and House races are again branding Democrats as soft on crime, reviving attacks tied to public safety and past “defund the police” rhetoric.
GOP candidates and allied groups are targeting Democrats even with law-enforcement credentials, including ads against Mississippi’s Scott Colom, Michigan’s Christina Hines and Abdul El-Sayed, Wisconsin’s Rebecca Cooke and Iowa’s Christina Bohannan.
The strategy reflects a worsening political climate for Republicans, with GOP pollster Whit Ayres saying crime is a stronger line of attack than gas prices or the trade war with Canada.
North Carolina shows the limits: Republicans have made crime a central case against Roy Cooper, but Cooper still leads in polls and Sen. Thom Tillis said voters have largely “filtered it out.”
Democrats are answering with their own safety message—El-Sayed and Hines tout law-enforcement backing, while Giffords PAC is spending $10 million to tie GOP candidates to the gun lobby and argue Democrats can narrow the issue gap.