The Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), a Super PAC aligned with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and House Republican leadership, is launching the first television ad this cycle in the race for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District.
The ad, entitled “Mini,” targets incumbent Abigail Spanberger for her voting alignment with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“Abigail Spanberger votes 100% with Pelosi. It’s like having our very own Pelosi mini-me,” a male narrator mocks in the ad’s opening. “When Pelosi wanted to spend taxpayer money that went to bail out golf courses, Spanberger voted “yes.” Stimulus checks to criminals? Yes again.”
It goes on to criticize Spanberger for voting with Pelosi on a “middle-class tax hike” the ad claims “even hits families making $75,000 or less.”
That likely refers to the Inflation Reduction Act, which a House Republicans Budget committee said would create “more than 700,000 new audits on taxpayers making less than $75,000 a year.
However, several other analyses, including the Urban Institute & Brookings Institution’s Tax Policy Center, found the Act would primarily impact those in the top 1% by raising taxes about $6,000 a year, with those in the top 0.1% seeing their taxes increased by a little less than $42,000. Those in that top income tier have incomes of $4.4 million or more, according to the TPC. Middle earners would see an increase of about $20 on their taxes, the TPC wrote.
Spanberger faces GOP challenger Yesli Vega, an auxiliary deputy with the Prince William County Sheriff’s Office. While Republicans are attacking Spanberger on issues related to the economy, Spanberger’s campaign has been pushing back on the issue of abortion, a hot-button topic after the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year stripped federal abortion protections when it overturned Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
In audio leaked over the summer, Vega was heard speculating that becoming pregnant by rape would be difficult because it wasn’t “happening organically,” according to Axios.
Spanberger launched her own ad this week on the abortion issue.
The latest Virginia ad attacking the Democrat is part of an 11-ad rollout nationwide this week, including spots California, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Washington.
“Instead of standing up for their constituents, Democrats have pushed a far-left agenda that’s left Americans with a skyrocketing cost of living and soaring crime,” CLF Communications Director Calvin Moore said. “Families just can’t afford Democrats’ dangerous plans that are ripping away paychecks and jeopardizing public safety.”
