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ICYMI: The State: GOP groups launch ad campaigns attacking SC’s Cunningham over impeachment inquiry

We wanted to flag a recent article from The State that highlights how the RNC, SCGOP, and Republican organizations are working to hold Joe Cunningham responsible for his decision to support an impeachment inquiry into President Trump. Instead of working to pass the USMC or secure the border, Joe Cunningham and House Democrats are wasting time on a partisan impeachment agenda. We will continue to hold him responsible until he votes to Stop the Madness.

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GOP groups launch ad campaigns attacking SC’s Cunningham over impeachment inquiry
The State
Emily Bohatch
November 14, 2019
https://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article237350949.html

U.S. Rep. Joe Cunningham, a Charleston Democrat representing a slightly red district, is walking a tightrope on impeachment.

Those he has voiced support for an impeachment inquiry, he has yet to say whether he would actually vote to bring charges against President Donald Trump over his alleged quid quo pro with the Ukraine.

But Republican opponents who want to retake South Carolina’s coastal 1st District are using the impeachment probe to attack him all the same.

Several conservative political groups — including the Republican National Committee — have launched ad campaigns targeting Cunningham over the inquiry.

The RNC is purchasing full-page newspaper ads in swing districts held by Democrats in 15 states, including South Carolina’s 1st District.

The ad includes a photo of Cunningham and is modeled after a wanted poster, reading “Wanted: Member of congress who actually works for South Carolina.”

The ad asks voters to push Cunningham to not “waste taxpayer $$$ on partisan impeachment.” It also focuses on military initiatives and lowering prescription drug prices.

The ad is part of the RNC’s “Stop the Madness” campaign, a $10.3 million effort that includes TV and print ads and protests in front of district offices of Democrats in vulnerable districts.

The state Republican party is pitching in, too. The S.C. GOP announced earlier this month that it made its first hires to start mobilizing voters against Cunningham.

In addition to the RNC, the conservative non-profit American Action Network is spending about $50,000 to launch a social media campaign against Cunningham.

Cunningham is one of 37 members of Congress the nonprofit group is targeting, according to a statement from the group. The initiative is aimed at persuading members of congress to vote against impeachment.

“Congress should be working on the issues the American people care about — passing the USMCA, creating good jobs, and securing our border – not getting bogged down in what is clearly a partisan impeachment charade,” American Action Network President Dan Conston said in a statement. “It’s time for Members of Congress to take a stand, vote no on impeachment, and get back to work on the issues that will actually make a difference in the lives of Americans across our country. Let voters decide elections.”

Conservative group Club for Growth also launched impeachment-focused ads in Cunningham’s district, according to a statement from the group. The ads urge voters to contact their congressman to urge him not to support impeachment.

The 1st District is one of nine House seats across the country that Club for Growth is targeting.

Cunningham’s district is a key battleground in 2020. The district turned blue in 2018 for the first time in 40 years after Cunningham’s stunning upset of Republican Katie Arrington, a freshman state legislator who upset then-U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford, R-Mount Pleasant, in the 2018 GOP primary.

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He voted to make the inquiry public in late October, but in a statement released by his office, the Charleston Democrat made it clear he had not decided whether the president should be impeached.

“There were two choices in this decision — to keep this investigation behind closed doors or bring it out into the open for the American people to see,” Cunningham said, according to the statement. “I chose the latter.”

“I refuse to prejudge the outcome of this investigation and will withhold judgment on whether the President should be impeached until hearing all the evidence,” Cunningham added.

Still, RNC spokesman Joe Jackson alleged the freshman lawmaker “officially committed political malpractice” by siding with his fellow Democrats on the vote in a statement released shortly after the motion passed.

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Read the full State article here.

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