GOP group launches billboard campaign urging Cruz, Hawley to resign

An anti-Trump Republican group is launching a seven-figure billboard campaign calling on a dozen GOP lawmakers to resign in the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. 

The billboard advertisements from the Republican Accountability Project, a group formed earlier this month by GOP critics of former President Trump, target 10 members of the House and two senators, Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who voted against certifying the Electoral College vote this month after a mob of Trump’s supporters violently stormed the Capitol.

“You lied about the election. The Capitol was attacked. Sen. Cruz: Resign,” one billboard targeting Cruz reads. Cruz was among the most prominent Republican lawmakers who helped spread Trump’s false claims of voter fraud and electoral malfeasance after his loss to President Biden in November.

The billboard campaign comes with a price tag of $1 million, according to the Republican Accountability Project. The group has already committed to raising $50 million to help reelect GOP lawmakers who vote to impeach or convict Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Other lawmakers targeted by the campaign include House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who this week has been criticized by Republicans and Democrats alike for a series of controversies, including past comments calling for violence against Democratic politicians.

The Republican Accountability Project is also going up on the air in each of their targets’ congressional districts and states with television ads tying the lawmakers’ rhetoric with the actions of the pro-Trump rioters behind the breach at the Capitol. 

Those ads will air during Fox News’s “Fox & Friends” and “Hannity,” two favorite news programs of conservatives, the group said.

“These representatives and senators helped incite the attack on the Capitol by spreading lies about the election,” said Sarah Longwell, the executive director of the Republican Accountability Project. “They have proved that they are unfit to hold office. They should be nowhere near power.”