With midterm elections on the horizon and congressional majorities up for grabs, outside groups have jumped at the opportunity to control messaging on tax reform — the one piece of major legislation passed by Congress in 2017.

Corry Bliss, executive director of conservative group American Action Network (AAN), said selling the landmark legislation to voters should be Republicans’ top priority in the coming months.

“Every member of the Republican Party should be spending all of their time selling the tax plan,” Bliss told The Washington Post. “Everything else is a waste of time and money.”

Conservative groups have done their best to corner the market on tax messaging based on pure volume and size of expenditures, but liberal groups too have asserted themselves since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’s enactment in late December.

On Jan. 2, the liberal coalition Tax March released TV ads in 23 Republican-held congressional districts — 14 of which Hillary Clinton carried in 2016 — admonishing representatives for their support of a bill they claim “raises taxes on 36 million middle class families.” Tax March has promised to double its spending from last year to $10 million on the issue in 2018 as a part of its Not One Penny campaign.

Not to be outdone, AAN launched its own ads the next day in 23 districts, thanking Republican representatives who voted for the bill, which ads published on their YouTube page claim “will save a typical family more than $2,000.” AAN, which pumped millions of dollars into the bill’s passage, plans to spend another $10 million defending it.

Republican megadonors Charles and David Koch are promising the financial support of their powerful political machine. Four Koch-funded groups — Freedom Partners, Americans for Prosperity, The Libre Initiative, and General Opportunity — have already announced their intentions.

According to a release on the Freedom Partners website, the four groups “will be participating in a full scale nationwide education campaign” to “demonstrate the tremendous benefits of pro-growth tax reform and show how this plan is directly helping Americans improve their lives.”

The Kochs have promised to spend up to $400 million on the looming midterm election, CNBC reported recently. That’s roughly 60 percent more than they said they dedicated to the 2016 cycle when they focused on down-ballot races instead of throwing their support behind Donald Trump.

The brothers, whose organizations spent $20 million in support of the tax bill’s passage last year, announced at a recent donor summit that they will allocate another $20 million to promote its perceived benefits to an electorate that remains skeptical.

According to the results of a Pew Research survey released last week, just 37 percent of Americans approve of the tax bill compared to 46 percent who disapprove. It also found that 29 percent of adults believe the overhaul will have “mostly positive” effects on themselves and their families in the coming years compared to 27 percent who anticipate “mostly negative” effects.

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In a number of critical districts, it’s not just middle class voters who are concerned with the implications of the overhaul. Wealthier households in more affluent districts will be hit with the downsizing of key tax breaks such as the mortgage interest and state and local tax deductions (SALT).

Graeme Boushey, political science professor at the University of California Irvine in the state’s 45th District, said this poses an interesting dilemma for some Republicans.

“For many Republican voters, this has been an objective — something they’ve desired for a very long time,” Boushey said. “But it’s intermingled with the concern that they will be personally injured by the bill.”

Republican congresswoman Mimi Waters, who represents the 45th District, voted in favor of the bill. Boushey said that, in defending Waters’s vote, GOP tax messaging in the district will have to appeal to voters’ belief that the overhaul will benefit the country at large.

According to the Pew survey, 35 percent of adults expect the overhaul to have “mostly positive” effects on the country at large compared to 40 percent who anticipate “mostly negative” effects.

Landmark legislation is oftentimes mired by unfavorable public perceptions. The Affordable Care Act, which passed in 2010, was largely unpopular during President Obama’s tenure. It has enjoyed its highest levels of support only since Obama left office, in the wake of Republican attempts to repeal it.

Boushey said there are striking political parallels between the passage of the Affordable Care Act — commonly known as Obamacare — and the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. He cited the pressure placed on both parties to enact landmark legislation on ideological principles when in control of the White House and both chambers of Congress.

“This is very similar to the Democrats’ ACA vote,” Boushey said. “Once in 40 years, you get a chance with unified government to enact a sacred cow for the party — pass tax reform here. I think for some of these representatives, there’s a consequences-be-damned attitude to it, even if they know it’s going to cost them in their election.”

Republicans drastically outspent Democrats on healthcare messaging after the passage of Obamacare — using it as a valuable piece of political propaganda even in 2016 when many congressional leaders were elected on promises of repeal and replace. Sensing the potential for a Democratic wave election this year that could threaten congressional majorities, Republicans cannot afford to let the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act follow the same trajectory.

With millions being poured into TV ads, some groups are resorting to more out-of-the-box methods of messaging. The Job Creators Network is embarking on a nationwide bus tour to sing the praises of the bill, and Democratic leaders are hosting teach-ins to convey its perceived pitfalls to constituents.



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