Conservative group launches $1.4M ‘Confirm Kavanaugh’ campaign

A top conservative group is launching a $1.4 million campaign targeting swing votes in the upcoming fight to confirm Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee.

The Judicial Crisis Network on Monday night announced that the ads will appear on national cable channels and in digital advertising.

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“Judge Kavanaugh is a home run,” said Carrie Severino, the chief counsel and policy director for the Judicial Crisis Network. “Like Gorsuch, Judge Kavanaugh is brilliant, fair and independent, committed to following the law and honoring the Constitution. I look forward to the confirmation of another great justice.”

The group, which played a role in last year’s Senate confirmation of Justice Neil Gorsuch, will use the ad buy to target states that are home to four red-state Democrats: West Virginia, Indiana, North Dakota and Alabama.

Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Joe Donnelly (Ind.) and Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.) are running for reelection in states that Trump easily won in 2016. The three senators voted for Gorsuch’s nomination last year.

Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.), who won a special election last year against controversial GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore, is facing his first Supreme Court fight.

The Judicial Crisis Network ad calls Kavanaugh the “best of the best” and characterizes him as “strong and independent,” in addition to touting his work in the Bush-era White House and his time at Yale Law School.

Americans for Prosperity (AFP), another conservative group, said it is planning to spend seven figures in advertising and “grassroots engagement” to support Kavanaugh’s nomination.

“Judge Kavanaugh understands the necessity of fairly applying the law and defending the Constitution,” Sarah Field, AFP’s vice president of judicial strategy, said in a statement. “Accordingly, Democrats and Republicans should unite in bipartisan support behind his confirmation.”

The group is planning to do an initial round of mail and door hangers “in the coming weeks” targeting Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Wisconsin — all states where Democrats are running for reelection.