National Journal: Club for Growth Spending Big Against Renee Ellmers
By Kimberly Railey in National Journal
Club for Growth Spending Big Against Renee Ellmers
The third-term North Carolina congresswoman is facing a competitive primary challenge.
The Club for Growth has picked its first major incumbent target on the 2016 House map: North Carolina Republican Renee Ellmers.
The group’s super PAC is launching a $400,000 ad buy Tuesday against the three-term incumbent. The spot tars Ellmers “as way too liberal” for the state, casting the congresswoman as “part of the problem in Washington.”
“Her repeated support for debt-busting spending demonstrates how out of touch Ellmers has become with her constituents,” Club for Growth president David McIntosh said in a statement provided first to National Journal.
The Club is backing former Chatham County GOP Chair Jim Duncan in the race, but the ad’s focus is squarely on Ellmers, who must clear 40 percent in the primary to avoid a runoff. Driving down her negatives could be more beneficial for the group than boosting Duncan, who is already increasing his name recognition in a second television ad buoyed by heavy self-funding. Ellmers has yet to go on the air.
Beside Duncan, three other Republicans are running in what could become one of the most contested intraparty races this year. The primary is set for March 15, although a court ruling Friday invalidating two congressional districts has fueled uncertainty about how the state’s congressional primaries will proceed.
The money behind the ad—which will run in the Raleigh and Greensboro markets—dwarfs the funding that Ellmers has received from outside allies at this point. Last Tuesday, the Defending Main Street super PAC quietly filed a report with the Federal Election Commission for $190,000 for “field work” in the district. Last week, Main Street’s president Sarah Chamberlain told National Journal that the group “is continuing to monitor the situation.”
Ellmers, a nurse, defeated a Democratic incumbent in the tea-party wave of 2010, armed with an endorsement from Sarah Palin. But her challengers argue that she has strayed too far from her fiscally and socially conservative base since then.
The Club’s willingness to pour money into the race could go a long way in a district located in Raleigh’s pricey media market. At the start of the year, Ellmers began with a heavy cash advantage: $415,000 to Duncan’s $212,000.
“It is a very expensive state,” North Carolina GOP consultant Paul Shumaker said last week. “There is a price point to establish a degree of identity with voters.”
By the end of last year, Duncan had poured nearly $153,000 of his own money into his campaign, according to Federal Election Commission filings. His most recent television ad touted his conservative credentials, while knocking Ellmers on immigration and national security.
In addition to Duncan, Ellmers is facing primary challenges from 2014 rival Frank Roche, whom she defeated 59 percent to 41 percent, and former congressional staffer Kay Daly. Perennial candidate Tim D’Annunzio is also running.
Roche’s 41 percent in 2014—despite his limited funding—has fueled optimism among Ellmers’s critics that she can be defeated.
But in a more crowded field this cycle, there’s a greater possibility that the anti-incumbent vote will be split. The state’s earlier-than-usual primary, thanks to the coinciding presidential primaries, also gives her challengers less time to assemble well-organized campaigns.
In its endorsement of Duncan, the Club noted Ellmers’s support for reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank and her votes for spending bills in 2014 and 2015 as key reasons to target her. Ellmers has also taken heat from her right flank over other issues, notably when she helped pull a 20-week abortion ban bill last year.
The Club’s ad will run on broadcast and cable, with a digital component, through Feb. 21.
-See more at: https://www.nationaljournal.com/s/617292
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