Senate GOP campaign arm backs Gorsuch with ad buy

Republicans’ Senate campaign arm is looking to put pressure on vulnerable Democrats over the impending battle over President Trump’s Supreme Court nomination.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee will start its first paid ad push of the 2018 cycle with a new ad based in Washington, D.C. It’ll air starting Friday through the next week on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” a sample of the ads that could await embattled Democrats in their home states if they block the nomination.

The ad plays on the party’s key messaging for Trump’s pick, Judge Neil Gorsuch, in the hopes of cornering Democrats who called for former President Barack Obama’s nominee to receive a Senate vote but are now mulling a filibuster on Gorsuch. The first ad includes a quote from Indiana Sen. Joe Donnelly (D), who will likely face a tough reelection in a state won by nearly 20 percentage points.

{mosads}Senate Republicans have their eyes on the Donnelly’s seat, as well as 9 other Democratic seats up for reelection in 2018 in states that Trump won. And the NRSC is expected to make future buys in those swing states hitting senators on the issue.

“Senate Democrats are following Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren and the rest of the far left over a cliff with their kneejerk opposition to Judge Neil Gorsuch,” said Katie Martin, the NRSC’s communications director, in a statement.

“If Senate Democrats continue to play political games instead of coming to the table and governing, they will pay a heavy price, in the form of their Red State colleagues’ seats.”

Democratic leaders have cautioned against that comparison, arguing that its the Republicans who should be held to account for their refusal to hold a hearing for Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, after Antonin Scalia’s death left a Supreme Court seat vacant nine months before Election Day.

It’s part of a unified effort by Republicans and allied outside groups to keep the pressure on Democrats who may be thinking about joining a filibuster, which would raise the threshold needed to confirm Gorsuch to 60 votes. Beating a potential filibuster would require Republicans to swing eight Democrats to their side.