GOP group hits Graham over election security in new ad

A Republican group that’s been airing ads urging members of the GOP to take seriously election fraud and allegations of obstruction of justice by the president is focusing its latest ad on Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). 

Republicans for the Rule of Law released a new video that will air on Fox News in D.C. and South Carolina using a clip of Graham’s own Senate floor speech about election security from July 2018. 

“I am 1,000 percent convinced that the Russians meddled in our election. I’m hoping that the president will call the Congress together to secure our elections the best we can. I don’t know how any of us can go to our constituents if we do nothing. The one thing I cannot live with is not trying,” Graham said in the clip used in the ad. 

“Sen. Graham are you still trying?” the ad asks. “Call Sen. Graham and tell him to secure our elections.”

Dramatic words from @LindseyGrahamSC on election security: “I don’t know how any of us can go our constituents if we do nothing. The one thing I cannot live with is not trying.”
This ad from Republicans for the Rule of Law is running on Fox News in D.C. and in South Carolina. pic.twitter.com/Pogat9uX0d

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) September 11, 2019

Republicans for the Rule of Law said the ad will air Thursday on “Fox & Friends” in D.C. and Graham’s home state, as well as on “Fox News Sunday” in South Carolina. 

{mosads}Graham is a co-sponsor of two election security bills, the Honest Ads Act and the Defending Elections against Trolls from Enemy Regimes Act (DETER Act). 

Republicans for the Rule of Law spokesman Chris Truax said the bills are “good starts, but they’re not perfect and none of them alone will keep our elections safe.”

“Congress needs to discuss, debate and vote on comprehensive election security legislation. If they don’t, history will remember them as the Congress who could have averted a catastrophe — but failed,” Truax added. 

The Senate unanimously passed the DETER Act, which blocks individuals who meddle in U.S. elections from being able to enter the country, in June. But the Honest Ads Act, aimed at increasing transparency of who buys online paid political ads, has not been voted on. 

It’s unclear where the Honest Ads Act stands at this time. 

“I think after the classified meeting where everybody involved says we did pretty well in 2018, we’ve got a handle on 2020. I’m not feeling the need to act until somebody tells me the current systems, or their statements, are no longer relevant,” Graham told The Hill on Tuesday when asked about the legislation. 

Republicans for the Rule of Law had previously focused its efforts on urging Republicans to take former special counsel Robert Mueller’s report outlining foreign interference in the 2016 election seriously. 

Mueller’s report found examples of Russian interference in the 2016 election. In his testimony before Congress, Mueller said foreign nations could again interfere if lawmakers did not take action to prevent those efforts.

Maggie Miller contributed.