The Republican National Committee is going after Harry Reid.
A new campaign by the RNC aims to galvanize Republican opposition to the Senate majority leader in hopes of garnering enough votes to retake the Senate. Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, isn’t up for re-election, but the GOP hopes that putting the majority leader in the crosshairs will rally the party’s base.
“The only way to stop President Obama’s agenda and to get jobs bills out of Congress is to fire Harry Reid. And the way to fire Harry Reid is to support your Republican Senate candidate. It doesn’t matter who the Democrat candidate is. A vote for a Democrat is a vote for Harry Reid.” RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said in a release.
Reid has been an outspoken critic of the GOP’s efforts to obstruct the legislative process and has levied harsh criticism against the Koch brothers, who have donated millions of dollars to conservative causes.
The RNC campaign will send robocalls out in 12 states, targeting Democrats up for election in November. It will also include social media, targeted research and a media blitz “to highlight where Harry Reid has failed Americans,” the RNC said in a release sent to msnbc.
A vote for a Democrat is a vote for Harry Reid's obstructionist agenda. http://t.co/u8hAZdMT0g The Winning Message: #FireReid
— RNC (@GOP) July 22, 2014“President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have blocked hundreds of bills that would spur job creation. Their partisan agenda has caused our health care costs to skyrocket. Their environmentalist billionaire backers won’t let the Keystone pipeline bring affordable energy to our state,” the robocall script reads.
The calls will target candidates and incumbents in tight races, like Alaskan Sen. Mark Begich and Iowa Rep. Bruce Braley, who is running for U.S. Senate against the Sarah Palin-endorsed Joni Ernst.
The release also argued that Reid’s leadership has derailed 290 bills from the House of Representatives, something the GOP has previously claimed when it is criticized for the “do nothing Congress.” It’s an argument the party continues in the first research briefing of the campaign, also out today, which argues that Reid’s leadership style has annoyed Democrats and Republicans by not bringing legislation to a vote.
Jane Timm