GOP Ads In Iowa, Kansas Senate Races Feature The Same People

Two conservative super PACs are running ads against Democratic Senate candidates in Iowa and Kansas using the same people purporting to be concerned about the policy implications of electing Democrats in states they do not live in.

In Iowa, Senate Leadership Fund is running a TV ad called “Struggling,” featuring a woman telling voters “the Theresa Greenfield-Nancy Pelosi health care plan could take away our employer-provided health insurance” and “could also take away our access to the doctor of our choice.”

The ad cites no specific health care plan but suggests that Greenfield and Pelosi, the House speaker, are working together. Given that Greenfield never has voted on a health care proposal in Congress, the “Theresa Greenfield-Nancy Pelosi health care plan” is fiction. Greenfield repeatedly has said she supports enhancing the Affordable Care Act and adding a public option. She does not support the single-payer, Medicare for All proposal backed by more liberal members of the Democratic Party.

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The same woman criticizing Greenfield in the Senate Leadership Fund ad also appears in an American Crossroads spot in Kansas, where Democrat Barbara Bollier and Republican Roger Marshall are competing for an open seat.

An American Crossroads ad in Iowa also features the same white-haired man as a Senate Leadership Fund ad in Kansas.

In Iowa, the man distorts Greenfield’s business record, saying she “literally signed notices to kick Iowa small businesses to the curb” and “took care of herself” while businesses here struggled.

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The Des Moines Register recently reported on the claims Republicans have made against Greenfield’s business career, talking with business owners who rented property from Colby Interests and digging up lawsuits filed against Rottlund Homes. Sen. Joni Ernst has used Greenfield’s tenure at both companies to label her as a “failed businesswoman,” but the Register found the claims made by Ernst and other Republicans mischaracterize past events.

While these ads are not sanctioned by Ernst’s campaign, they are not the first to feature misleading characters.

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During the course of her reelection campaign, Ernst has put testimonials on social media from Iowans — including former state Sen. Tom Sands and Ray Gaesser, former president of the American Soybean Association and 2018 candidate for Iowa secretary of agriculture — speaking to her support for farmers and tax relief. The videos fail to mention the links between the Republican Party of Iowa and the men praising Ernst, instead framing them as ordinary Iowans supportive of the senator.

By Elizabeth Meyer
Posted 10/26/20

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