Rep. Bruce Poliquin is one of numerous GOP incumbents and candidates hammered in a new $10 million-plus ad effort by Democratic super PACs. | Robert F. Bukaty/AP Photo Elections Democratic super PACs begin $10M-plus digital campaign to flip the House

Priorities USA and House Majority PAC are rolling out an eight-figure digital ad program in more than 40 House districts in a major online push to flip the chamber in the midterms.

The $10 million-plus effort from the Democratic super PACs revolves around health care, taxes and money in politics. The ads hammer Republican incumbents and candidates for supporting repeal of the Affordable Care Act and passage of the GOP tax plan, while accusing them of passing rising health care costs on to voters and taking special interest money.


“Rep. Poliquin took campaign contributions from the insurance industry and voted for a health care bill that would cause massive premium increases,” says one ad criticizing Rep. Bruce Poliquin (R-Maine). “While donors would get richer, you’d pay more.”

“Rep. Young took donations from the ultra-rich, and voted to give them massive tax cuts,” said another ad hitting Rep. David Young (R-Iowa). “Paid for by raising our health care premiums. His donors get richer, our family gets squeezed.”

The ads will start running Wednesday. It’s part of a broad effort by Priorities USA and partners to prevent Democrats from being outspent on digital advertising in 2018 after falling behind Republicans during the last presidential election. Some Democratic strategists have worried that Republicans take digital persuasion advertising far more seriously and continue to worry that they outspend Democratic groups online.

“We want to make sure we’re not allowing them to go unchallenged in any race,” Patrick McHugh, the executive director of Priorities USA said.

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Priorities said the effort was headed up by its 60-person in-house digital team, which designed the ads and made the ad buys in each targeted district.

“This is the largest House investment in digital, ever — and a terrific partnership with Priorities,” House Majority PAC Executive Director Charlie Kelly said.

While President Donald Trump has dominated the political conversation since taking office, Democratic groups are intent on making the midterms a referendum on health care. A Wesleyan Media Project analysis found that a majority of the pro-Democratic ads that aired on television in August mentioned health care.

“Health care is the number one issue to voters,” McHugh said. “Whatever minor benefit that middle class families might see in the immediate future by the tax bill is being completely wiped away by increasing health care costs.”

A different ad from Priorities and House Majority PAC takes aim at a projected deficit increase from the GOP tax plan, saying social safety net programs like Medicare and Social Security will be cut to pay for it.

Other districts that will be targeted by the campaign include Minnesota’s 3rd District, New York’s 22nd District and Virginia’s 7th District. Priorities USA declined to provide a full list of target districts, with McHugh noting they “want to remain flexible in terms of where we’re are and how we’re spending these funds.”

A few of the districts will have ads that stray from the health care messaging to focus on specific, localized issues.

In one such ad in Nevada’s 3rd District, a coyote rummages through papers in the desert while a narrator hits Republican Danny Tarkanian for being “a con man we can’t trust in Congress.” Another ad targets Southern California Republican Diane Harkey over her family business.

A third ad says Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) is “way too out there,” citing his stance on guns in school and if people should be allowed to not sell their house to gay people, while a spacesuit-clad Rohrabacher floats past Earth.