Liberals are already beginning to target Republican Sens. Jeff Flake Jeffrey (Jeff) Lane FlakeRepublican former Michigan governor says he's voting for Biden Maybe they just don't like cowboys: The president is successful, some just don't like his style Bush endorsing Biden? Don't hold your breath MORE (Ariz.) and Dean Heller Dean Arthur HellerOn The Trail: Democrats plan to hammer Trump on Social Security, Medicare Lobbying World Democrats spend big to put Senate in play MORE (Nev.) with attack ads as Democrats look to soften up their only two realistic targets ahead of a difficult 2018 Senate map.

Two groups, Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) and Allied Progress, have launched TV ads in the senators’ home states that aim to tie the two GOP senators to President-elect Donald Trump Donald John TrumpBarr criticizes DOJ in speech declaring all agency power 'is invested in the attorney general' Military leaders asked about using heat ray on protesters outside White House: report Powell warns failure to reach COVID-19 deal could 'scar and damage' economy MORE’s Cabinet and White House staff picks.

Democrats are starting GOP attacks early in a cycle where they’re mostly playing defense and trying to block Republicans from flipping enough seats to achieve a 60-seat, filibuster-proof Senate majority. Republicans are defending just eight seats in 2018, while Democrats are defending 23 seats, plus another two held by independent allies.

About a week after Stephen Bannon was named chief White House strategist in Trump’s administration, PCCC launched an ad on Thanksgiving pressuring Flake to call on the former Breitbart News executive to be fired. The ad, which was extended, ran in Washington, D.C., Phoenix and Tucson.

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Bannon, who was Trump’s campaign CEO, was a controversial pick for the president-elect thanks to his claim that he had made the site into a “platform” for the alt-right movement.

Adam Green, the co-founder of the PCCC, a PAC, said the initial ad sought to pressure the Republicans early on the airwaves. He added it has the added bonus of speaking both to the group’s policy and political gains.

“Part of the early timing is just out of necessity given that these battles are happening right now,” Green told The Hill. “There’s really twin goals of winning the issues fights and laying the groundwork for electoral victories in 2018 and 2020.”

Earlier this week, issue advocacy group Allied Progress ramped up its early advertising and launched six-figure broadcast and cable TV ads in Arizona and Nevada, calling on Flake and Heller to oppose Trump’s pick for Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin.