GOP groups launch ad campaigns attacking SC’s Cunningham over impeachment inquiry
U.S. Rep. Joe Cunningham, a Charleston Democrat representing a slightly red district, is walking a tightrope on impeachment.
Though he has voiced support for an impeachment inquiry, he has yet to say whether he would actually vote to bring charges against President Donald Trump over his alleged quid quo pro with the Ukraine.
But Republican opponents — including the Republican National Committee — who want to retake South Carolina’s coastal 1st District are using the probe to attack him all the same.
The RNC is purchasing full-page newspaper ads in swing districts held by Democrats in 15 states, including South Carolina’s 1st District.
The conservative nonprofit American Action Network is spending about $50,000 on a social media campaign against Cunningham.
And the conservative Club for Growth also has launched ads in the 1st District urging voters to discourage Cunningham from supporting impeachment.
The state Republican party is pitching in, too. The S.C. GOP announced earlier this month that it made its first hires to start mobilizing voters against Cunningham, who’s district represents a key battleground in 2020.
Republicans see a golden opportunity to retake the district that Trump won handily in 2016. Meanwhile, House Democrats have given Cunningham every opportunity to hang onto the seat, including by putting him in position to fulfill campaign promises on offshore drilling.
The district turned blue in 2018 for the first time in 40 years after Cunningham’s stunning upset of Republican Katie Arrington, a freshman state legislator who upset then-U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford, R-Mount Pleasant, in the 2018 GOP primary.
Several Lowcountry Republicans have lined up to take on Cunningham, including state Rep. Nancy Mace, Bikers for Trump founder Chris Cox, Mt. Pleasant Town Councilwoman Kathy Landing and Beaufort County Councilman Mike Covert.
Cunningham has approached the impeachment inquiry cautiously.
He voted to make the inquiry public in late October but made clear he had not decided whether the president should be impeached.
“There were two choices in this decision — to keep this investigation behind closed doors or bring it out into the open for the American people to see,” Cunningham said in a statement. “I chose the latter.”
“I refuse to prejudge the outcome of this investigation and will withhold judgment on whether the President should be impeached until hearing all the evidence,” Cunningham added.
Still, RNC spokesman Joe Jackson alleged the freshman lawmaker “officially committed political malpractice” by siding with his fellow Democrats on the vote in a statement released shortly after the motion passed.
The new RNC ad includes a photo of Cunningham and is modeled after a wanted poster, reading “Wanted: Member of congress who actually works for South Carolina.”
The ad asks voters to push Cunningham to not “waste taxpayer $$ on partisan impeachment.”
It is part of the RNC’s “Stop the Madness” campaign, a $10.3 million effort that includes TV and print ads and protests in front of district offices of Democrats in vulnerable districts.
Cunningham also is one of 37 members of Congress in the American Action Network’s crosshairs. That group has launched an initiative aimed at persuading members of congress to vote against impeachment.
“Congress should be working on the issues the American people care about — passing the USMCA, creating good jobs, and securing our border — not getting bogged down in what is clearly a partisan impeachment charade,” American Action Network President Dan Conston said in a statement. “It’s time for Members of Congress to take a stand, vote no on impeachment, and get back to work on the issues that will actually make a difference in the lives of Americans across our country. Let voters decide elections.”
The 1st District is one of nine House seats across the country that Club for Growth is also targeting.
On the other hand, Cunningham has seen a surge of ads in support of him.
EDF Action, an arm of the Environmental Defense Fund, launched a digital and mail advertising campaign Tuesday in support of the congressman, who has spent much of his campaign and first term focused on banning offshore drilling.
The ads are part of a $600,000 campaign to thank other congressmen for their environmental advocacy, according to the group.
“EDF Action is excited to see Congressman Joe Cunningham leading by example — doing what’s right for his South Carolina district — creating jobs, growing the economy and protecting our coastline,” EDF Action President Joe Bonfiglio said in a statement.
This story was originally published November 14, 2019 at 9:37 AM.
