House Democrats' campaign arm to air ads to help a powerful but vulnerable member: Their own chairman
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is spending $605,000 on an ad buy in New York's 17th District, where the committee's chairman Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney is locked in a tight race that has the attention and funding of national Republicans. News of the ad buy was shared first with CBS News.
Maloney currently represents New York's 18th District, but after redistricting, Maloney decided to switch over and move to the slightly more Democratic 17th District in the Hudson Valley. He was elected chairman of the DCCC in December 2020, after pitching himself as a Democrat who understood how to win tough seats.
The DCCC ad, which starts to air on Tuesday, labels Maloney's Republican opponent, New York state Assemblyman Mike Lawler, as a "MAGA extremist" and ties him to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"Lawler and MAGA extremists spend their time fighting to ban abortion, not tackling crime or inflation or improving healthcare," the ad's narrator says, accompanied by images of notable Republicans like House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, as well as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.
The ads repeatedly label Lawler as a "MAGA extremist," matching recent messaging coming from President Joe Biden, who has been tying Republicans to former President Donald Trump and his "MAGA agenda."
"Republicans are doubling down on their mega MAGA, trickle down economics. That benefits the very wealthy, [has] failed the country before, and will fail it again if they win," Mr. Biden said Monday during remarks to the Democratic National Committee.
The DCCC's spending decision came as the Cook Political Report, which does non-partisan political analysis, moved Maloney's race from a "lean Democrat" rating to a "toss up" on Monday morning, in part because of GOP attack ads but also because the district has new constituents that Maloney must sway to win.
In a statement about the rating, Maloney campaign communications director Mia Ehrenberg said "this race is and always has been competitive, just like the 5 others that Rep. Maloney has won."
"While MAGA Mike Lawler is alienating voters left and right with his anti-choice extremism and open use of racism and anti-Semitism, Rep. Maloney is campaigning on his strong record of results for the Hudson Valley," she added.
Maloney's old district, the 18th, voted for Donald Trump in 2016 by 2 points, but flipped in 2020 when President Joe Biden won it by 5 points. Mr. Biden won the new iteration of New York's 17th District by 10 points.
Because he's the chair of the DCCC, Maloney has said he would recuse himself from any of the committee's spending decisions on his race, as first reported by Spectrum News and confirmed by his campaign.
In response to the ad, Lawler campaign spokesperson Bill O'Reilly said the Maloney campaign "is in full meltdown" that he is "selfishly raiding funds that had been earmarked for other Democrats for his own faltering campaign."
"This is no surprise coming from a candidate who championed cashless bail, raised taxes on the middle class, and who gallivants around Europe while his constituents struggle to pay for groceries and heating bills," he added, referencing a DCCC October fundraiser in Paris attended by Maloney, according to Punchbowl News.
The committee says there are 41 other seats where they've spent more money on air, through coordinated campaigns, independent expenditures or other investments.
While it is customary for Republicans to target the other party's committee chair in some way, Republicans have invested millions on advertisements hitting Maloney.
The Congressional Leadership Fund, the main super PAC for House Republicans, has spent over $4 million on an advertisement centered around crime, and highlighting a 2018 debate clip of Maloney about ending cash bail.
The National Republican Congressional Committee has spent $1 million dollars on investments in beating Maloney, including over $587,000 on ads in the race, according to data from advertisement tracking firm AdImpact. The committee increased its ad buy by $867,000 on Monday, according to a source familiar with the committee's spending.
Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota, chair of the NRCC and GOP counterpart to Maloney, quote-tweeted the Cook Political Report's rating shift and wrote, "New Yorkers are sick of Democrats' pro-criminal agenda."
"Republicans are pouring well over $6 million to prop up MAGA Mike Lawler whose campaign couldn't compete on its own," said DCCC spokesperson Chris Taylor. "Since day one, Chairman Maloney has been working tirelessly as a player coach — He's built a campaign and we've built an operation at the DCCC that can support that reality. As we have with every decision this cycle, we are making investments that ensure Democrats hold our House Majority.
By comparison, Republican groups spent a combined $500,000 targeting then-DCCC Chair Rep. Cheri Bustos in Illinois' 17th District in 2020.
"Sean Patrick Maloney's hubris is catching up with him," said CLF President Dan Conston in a statement about the advertisement. "Maloney made a grave miscalculation in giving up incumbency and we have a real shot to beat him in November."
Maloney's seat is one of five Democratic House seats in New York considered to be "competitive" according to the Cook Political Report. Spending in a district for the chairman, whose role as the DCCC to help reelect vulnerable Democrats, also comes at a time when House Republican outside groups are outraising and out spending groups supporting House Democrats.
The latest CBS News Battleground Tracker estimates House Republicans to win 224 seats, a net gain of 11 seats. Republicans just need a net gain of five seats to flip the chamber.
In an interview with "Face the Nation" on Sunday, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she feels "very confident" about her party's chances of keeping the chamber.
"I've been in over 20 states since Congress adjourned in the last month or so. And I see very clearly that the ownership of the ground is with us. It's about getting out the vote, everything else is a conversation compared to that," she said.