Democratic group targets GOP senators with ads ahead of impeachment vote

A prominent liberal super PAC on Friday will launch an ad campaign targeting several GOP senators urging them to vote to convict former President Trump in his impeachment trial.

American Bridge 21st Century, through its nonprofit affiliate group Bridge Project, will send out digital ads and texts urging constituents of GOP senators to call their offices and urge them to vote to convict Trump over his alleged role inciting the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. 

The plans, shared exclusively with The Hill, will target nine GOP senators: Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Susan Collins (Maine), Richard Burr (N.C.), Rob Portman (Ohio), Pat Toomey (Pa.), Bill Cassidy (La.), Mitt Romney (Utah), Richard Shelby (Ala.) and Ron Johnson (Wis.).

In an ad specifically targeting Murkowski, who has become one of Trump’s most outspoken Republican critics, the super PAC begins by saying, “the Trump-led assault on law enforcement and our Capitol cannot be forgotten” as it shows footage of rioters breaking into the building. 

The 16-second video continues, “Our senators need to do their jobs by holding Trump accountable for this violent January 6th insurrection.”

The ad then gives viewers the phone number for Murkowski’s Washington, D.C., office, urging her constituents to “tell her she must convict Trump.”

In a statement shared with The Hill, American Bridge President Bradley Beychok said, “To protect our democracy and our rule of law, Donald Trump must be held accountable.”

Beychok added, “We urge Republican Senators to for once put their country ahead of their party and hold Trump accountable so the insurrection we saw on January 6 never happens again.”

Murkowski this week told reporters amid House impeachment managers’ arguments before the Senate that the Democrats “are making a very strong case for a timeline that laid out very clearly the words that were used, when he [Trump] used them, how he used to really build the anger, the violence that we saw here in this Capitol.”

On Wednesday, Murkowski said after the second day of the impeachment trial, “After the American public sees the full story laid out here … I don’t see how Donald Trump could be reelected to the presidency again.”

Meanwhile, Romney is viewed as a likely vote in favor of conviction, as he was the only Republican senator to vote to remove Trump from office after his first impeachment trial last year. 

Other moderate Republicans have criticized Trump for repeatedly making unsupported claims of a “rigged” election, though it is unclear if each of them will be moved to cross party lines and join Democrats in voting to convict Trump. 

After Democrats wrapped up their arguments Thursday, Trump’s team took center stage Friday, largely focusing its defense on the claim that Trump’s remarks leading up to the mob attack were protected by the First Amendment. 

Democrats would need 17 GOP senators to vote with them to convict Trump, an outcome widely considered unlikely.