House GOP campaign arm hits vulnerable House Democrats on inflation in new ads

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) on Wednesday rolled out a new slate of ads targeting vulnerable House Democrats on inflation.

The 10 Democrats targeted in the ads are Reps. Tom O’Halleran (Ariz.), Greg Stanton (Ariz.), Jahana Hayes (Conn.), Sharice Davids (Kan.), Elissa Slotkin (Mich.), Dan Kildee (Mich.), Angie Craig (Minn.), Chris Pappas (N.H.), Ann Kuster (N.H.) and Kim Schrier (Wash.).

The ad cites an estimate released by Bloomberg Economics last month in which the average American household will have to spend an extra $5,200 per year, or $433 per month, as a result of inflation.

The ad also references an analysis from The Associated Press published last month, which found that pandemic relief money was spent by state and local governments on measures unrelated to the pandemic, like renovations for a minor league baseball stadium in Dutchess County, New York, and a high-end hotel in Broward County, Florida.

“House Democrats voted for trillions in reckless spending that funded luxury hotels, golf courses, and ski resorts,” NRCC Chairman Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) said in a statement to The Hill. “Now every American is paying a $5,200 inflation tax every year.”

The ad is the latest GOP effort to hit Democrats on inflation, which has hit a 40-year high in the U.S. Consumer prices have risen 8.5 percent since last year.

But Democrats have recently hit back against the Republican attacks in an effort to flip the script on the issue. On Monday, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee launched a billboard in Davids’s district targeting her likely GOP opponent Amanda Adkins’s opposition to a gas tax holiday in an effort to lower prices at the pump.

Adkins’s campaign called the federal gas tax holiday “political theater” in a statement to The Hill.