Republicans target Cortez Masto in new digital ads

The Republican National Committee has purchased a run of digital advertisements this week criticizing Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto as part of a national campaign against H.R. 1, the Democrats’ election-reform bill.

The six-figure advertisement campaign will run on Google, Facebook and local and national news websites in Nevada, Arizona, Georgia and New Hampshire, the RNC said. It will target the incumbent Democratic senators from each state running for re-election in 2022.

H.R. 1 would overhaul American elections by limiting voter ID laws, expanding automatic and same-day voter registration and vote-by-mail and allow for the legal collection of another’s signed absentee ballot — all of which were already in place in Nevada during the 2020 election. The Nevada Legislature is likely to make those changes permanent this year.

It would also drastically change campaign finance rules by allowing the federal government to match small-dollar campaign donations by 6:1, which Democrats hope would curb the influence of wealthy campaign donors. It would reform the Federal Elections Committee and establish new rules for online political advertisements.

“Democrats are attempting an egregious power grab through H.R. 1 that will fundamentally alter our entire election system and dismantle the integrity of the vote, but we will not let them get away with it,” RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel said in a statement.

The bill was only recently taken up by the Senate, where it is expected to fall short of the 60 votes needed to pass. Cortez Masto introduced a nearly identical Senate bill in 2019.

The advertisements accused Cortez Masto of “wanting to use your tax dollars to elect more radical liberal candidates.”

“While Senator Cortez Masto is fighting to crack down on corruption and defend our democracy, Washington Republicans are opposing election reform because they want to protect their special interest allies and ultra-wealthy dark money donors,” Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesman Stewart Boss said in response to the ads.

“This is an overwhelmingly popular bill because voters understand it’s past time to protect voting rights, get big money out of politics and pass ethics reform in Washington,” he added.

Contact Rory Appleton at rappleton@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0276. Follow @RoryDoesPhonics on Twitter.