TV ads will begin running in Maine and Alaska on Thursday focusing on abortion rights and Roe. v. Wade; radio ads will launch next week in those states. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo Liberal group launches $5 million push against Trump’s SCOTUS pick

A new group aiming to serve as a liberal counterweight to the right on judicial nominations plans to spend $5 million opposing President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court pick.

Demand Justice will invest in radio, TV, digital and voter mobilization, an official said. The campaign will focus on Maine and Alaska, homes of moderate Senate Republicans Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, respectively, as well as Indiana, North Dakota and West Virginia, where vulnerable Senate Democrats are seeking reelection.


TV ads focusing on abortion rights and Roe v. Wade will begin running in Maine and Alaska on Thursday; radio ads in those states will launch next week. Republicans hope Collins and Murkowski will support Trump’s nominee in the closely divided Senate and allow them to confirm a new justice without Democrats’ help.

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After Trump announces his nominee next week, the group will launch ads urging Democratic Sens. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Joe Donnelly of Indiana to vote no, citing the need to maintain Obamacare’s protections for pre-existing conditions. The ads there will highlight those senators’ roles in protecting the health care law by previously voting against repeal.

Demand Justice will also partner with Protect Our Care, a group that fought Obamacare repeal, to coordinate their messages on health care and the Supreme Court for the midterms, the official said.

Protect Our Care is airing television ads about Obamacare and the Supreme Court battle this week in Maine, Alaska and Washington, D.C.

