SC’s Cunningham strikes back at dark money group attacks in new ad
After months of negative ads from dark money groups airing in his coastal district, U.S. Rep. Joe Cunningham, a Charleston Democrat, is striking back in his own ad.
The ad, set to air starting Wednesday, calls several ads in the district that were paid for by political “dark money” groups not required to disclose their donors, “a political hit job.”
“National dark money groups have spent nearly a million dollars lying about Joe’s record, so we are here to set the record straight,” Cunningham campaign spokeswoman Allie Watters said in a statement. “As one of Congress’ most independent members of Congress, Joe has a remarkable bipartisan record of success that we are excited to share with Lowcountry voters.”
Cunningham’s ad includes a clip from Jimmy Kimmel Live, in which late show host Jimmy Kimmel calls out dark money group American Action Network for using actresses in attack ads in the districts of vulnerable congressmen.
A similar ad to the one mentioned on Kimmel’s show aired in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, bashing Cunningham for voting in favor of impeachment. American Action Network spent $175,000 on the ad, according to a statement from the group.
The Charleston Democrat’s ad points out that the congressman kept his campaign promises about working to ban offshore drilling. The measure passed the U.S. House last year.
The ad also touts Cunningham’s vote against raising the salary of members of Congress. The raise was ultimately pulled by Democratic leaders from a spending bill after backlash from vulnerable members.
In the ad, Cunningham’s campaign claims he’s one of “America’s most independent members of Congress.” According to data from ProPublica, Cunningham voted against his party a little more than 11% of the time, the 54th highest rate among the 435 members of Congress.
The ad marks Cunningham’s first TV buy of his reelection campaign.
Cunningham, who wrestled his district away from Republicans in 2018, is a top target of conservatives in 2020.
He’s faced high levels of scrutiny for many of his actions while in Congress, especially his vote on impeachment. Just hours after the vote, American Action Network released an ad attacking Cunningham about his decision.
Cunningham has also faced attacks from the Republican National Committee.
Overall, conservative groups spent almost $750,000 in the district, and $348,928 came from American Action Network, according to Advertising Analytics.
On the other side, Democrats spent a little more than $580,000.
This story was originally published January 28, 2020 at 3:47 PM.
