After SC’s Cunningham votes to impeach Trump, conservative group launches attack ads
Immediately after South Carolina’s most vulnerable congressmen voted to impeach President Donald Trump, a conservative nonprofit launched an ad campaign against him.
American Action Network announced Wednesday night that the group would be spending $2.5 million to run digital and television ads against Democrats representing Trump-leaning districts who voted in favor for impeachment, including Lowcountry U.S. Rep. Joe Cunningham who represents the state’s 1st Congressional District.
American Action Network is considered a “dark money” group, which does not have to disclose who its donors are.
In the ad, a narrator claims that Cunningham ignored his constituents by voting to impeach Trump on articles of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
Congressional leaders drew up the articles after allegations surfaced of Trump withholding crucial military aid from Ukraine in order to leverage an investigation into his political rival former Vice President Joe Biden and his son and former board member of a natural gas company, Hunter Biden.
The ad called the Houses vote to approve both articles of impeachment Wednesday night “a politically motivate charade that lets the Washington elite decide the election.”
“Tell Congressman Cunningham enough with the partisan games. Get to work on the issues that matter to us,” the ad finishes with.
On top of the TV ad, American Action Network will launch digital ads against Cunningham, according to a statement from the group.
Voting in favor of both articles of impeachment was a landmark moment in the freshman congressman’s career. Cunningham prizes his position as a more moderate member of Congress and has often employed a “Lowcountry over party” approach to lawmaking.
Though Cunningham did not speak or release a statement after his vote, days before, he said he would vote for the measure to hold Trump accountable.
“We are a nation of laws, and no single person is above the rule of law in America,” Cunningham said in a statement Monday.
Cunningham shocked the state after winning the coastal South Carolina district in 2018, wrestling it away from the Republican Party for the first time in 40 years.
This story was originally published December 19, 2019 at 10:24 AM.
