MS Now reported on messaging on the issue of corruption, highlighting an issue advocacy ad from Defend The Vote Action Fund that urged Chris Pappas to pass anti-corruption legislation in Congress. The article also discusses how Democrats, in particular, are focusing on the connection between corruption and the cost of living – insights explored by polling released by Defend the Vote Action Fund earlier this year.
Democrats are increasingly talking about corruption…like Washington’s political system, congressional stock trading and the influence of special interests…Democratic strategists tell MS NOW that this approach makes a great deal of sense in battleground districts, especially ones where Trump won two years ago…
Polling suggests that voters see the corruption as more than just fighting Trump. Voters are in fact readily tying perceptions of malfeasance in Washington writ-large to the No. 1 issue they say they are wrestling with this cycle: the cost of living…
Democratic strategists like Chris Meagher told MS NOW it’s smart for Democratic candidates to connect the dots. “Yes, it’s corruption — but it’s also tying the corruption that we’re seeing directly to the impact on people’s lives,” Meagher said.
Earlier this cycle Semafor and the Washington Post reported on Defend The Vote Action Fund’s polling and efforts to urge candidates and Members of Congress to lean into a message frame focused on the Cost of Corruption.
MS Now: On the trail, Democrats recast going after ‘Trump corruption’ as just ‘corruption’
Key passages:
- Democrats are increasingly talking about corruption without making Trump the central character, turning instead to more amorphous targets like Washington’s political system, congressional stock trading and the influence of special interests.
- Take a $2.3 million ad buy in New Hampshire — one of the Senate seats Democrats almost certainly must hold onto if they want to control the Senate. The 30-second spot rolled out by Defend the Vote Action fund — a Democratic-leaning organization — names “Donald Trump’s corruption” as one of the factors that has “broken” Washington.
- But the ad for Senate Democratic candidate Chris Pappas never invokes Trump again. It instead pivots to corruption in Congress, saying Pappas is fighting to ban members of Congress from trading stocks and barring former members of Congress from becoming lobbyists.
- Consider Pennsylvania, where Democrats are eying four House districts they hope to flip in November. Television spots in Pennsylvania’s 7th district declare that Democratic challenger Bob Brooks will stand up to a “corrupt political system.”
- In Pennsylvania’s 10th district, Democratic challenger Janelle Stelson has a spot touting her commitment to “stopping the corruption in Washington that raises costs here in Pennsylvania.” The ad lists banning stock trades and setting term limits among her priorities in Congress.
- And in Pennsylvania’s 8th district, a new ad casts Democratic challenger Paige Cognetti as “fighting back” against “corrupt politicians and the system that benefits them.” The ad — a spoof of the ‘Law and Order’ opening montage — notably flashes an image of incumbent Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan with a label reading “corrupt politicians” under it.
- In an ad airing in Iowa’s 1st district, where Democrat Christina Bohannan is trying yet again to unseat Republican incumbent Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Bohannan says she will “clean up Washington” by banning stock trading and “first class travel” by members of Congress.
- Democratic strategists tell MS NOW that this approach makes a great deal of sense in battleground districts, especially ones where Trump won two years ago.
- Polling suggests that voters see the corruption as more than just fighting Trump. Voters are in fact readily tying perceptions of malfeasance in Washington writ-large to the No. 1 issue they say they are wrestling with this cycle: the cost of living.
- A recent survey by the left-leaning firm Navigator found 81% of registered voters blamed “corruption in government” for raising their personal costs.
- Democratic strategists like Chris Meagher told MS NOW it’s smart for Democratic candidates to connect the dots. “Yes, it’s corruption — but it’s also tying the corruption that we’re seeing directly to the impact on people’s lives,” Meagher said.
- And CJ Warnke, the communications director for House Majority PAC, which works to elect House Democrats, told MS NOW in a statement that “across the House battleground, HMP is going to make the argument that Republican candidates are profiting for themselves while being bought and paid for by their donors — and that they refuse to do anything to address the cost-of living.”
- In the closely watched Texas Senate race, where Democrats are hoping to end three decades of Republican domination in statewide races, candidate James Talarico is routinely tying fighting corruption to lowering costs.
- “I’ll take on corruption and make this economy work for working people again,” Talarico says in one $7 million ad buy. In another ad — part of a $5 million buy — Talarico says billionaires “own” politicians and pledges to “stop members of Congress from trading stocks.”
- In Ohio, former Sen. Sherrod Brown and Democrats are running ads trying to cast the GOP incumbent as having corrupt ties to a utility company…Other Brown ads label Washington “rigged” to benefit “billionaires and corporations.”
Read the full piece on MS Now