Liberal groups plan to hold a Thursday morning anti-Gorsuch rally on Capitol Hill. | Getty Liberals launch ads vs. Republicans over nuke option

Liberal groups opposing Neil Gorsuch are rolling out a new ad campaign Wednesday aiming to pressure GOP senators to back down from their plans to force through the Supreme Court nominee by changing Senate rules.

The six-figure round of digital ads by People's Defense, an anti-Gorsuch coalition led by abortion-rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America, targets six states whose Republican senators are seen as swing votes on a historic attempt to lower the threshold for advancing Supreme Court nominees from 60 votes to 51. They include Alaska, home of Sen. Lisa Murkowski; Arizona, home of Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake; Maine, home of Sen. Susan Collins; Nevada, home of Sen. Dean Heller; and South Carolina, home of Sen. Lindsey Graham.


Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has vowed to confirm Gorsuch by Friday, an outcome that increasingly appears to be possible only by killing the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees, despite misgivings among senators on both sides of the aisle. Liberals have cheered the looming Democratic filibuster of President Donald Trump's high court pick, while trying to isolate Republicans to make them pay politically for changing Senate rules.

Republicans say their rules change is an inevitable reply to Democratic obstructionism that would have greeted any Trump nominee.

Breaking News Alerts Get breaking news when it happens — in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

"The millions of Americans who make up the People's Defense want Senate Republicans to know: The decision to blow up the Senate is squarely in their hands, and their hands alone," Kaylie Hanson Long, a NARAL spokeswoman, said in a statement. "It's on them to prove if they stand with their constituents, or Donald Trump."

Liberal groups also plan to hold a Thursday morning anti-Gorsuch rally on Capitol Hill, bringing their campaign against the nominee to a climax at the moment time that Democrats are expected to officially filibuster him.