A roundup of campaign news items of interest for Wednesday, February 26, 2020:
GUN SAFETY GROUPS TARGET ERNST, GRASSLEY: Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund and Moms Demand Action are airing ads targeting Iowa’s Republican U.S. Sens. Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley.
The ad buy, which includes print and digital ads, is built around Thursday’s anniversary of the Democrat-controlled U.S. House passage of a bill that requires background checks on all gun sales. The ad urges Ernst and Grassley to support passage of the bill in the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate.
“Inaction from the Senate on this life-saving legislation for a full year is unacceptable,” Katie Albrecht, a volunteer with the Iowa chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, said in a news release. “We’re sending a message to Sens. Ernst and Grassley: your inaction is unacceptable, and Iowans are watching.”
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Similar ads funded by the groups also are airing in Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Kentucky, the home state of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Following a top-secret briefing Tuesday morning, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, expressed confidence the United States is “on top of” efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
INTERPAC SQUABBLE IN U.S. SENATE RACE: One political action committee has filed a complaint over another in Iowa’s U.S. Senate race.
End Citizens United, a Democratic PAC with a stated goal of limiting money’s influence in politics, filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service, asking for an investigation into Iowa Values, a PAC that is supporting Ernst in her re-election campaign.
The complaint alleges Iowa Values falsely registered as a social welfare non-profit because it exists only to support Ernst’s election, End Citizens United said in a news release.
The Associated Press previously reported that Iowa Values was created by Ernst’s top political aides, and has worked closely with Ernst’s campaign in a potential violation of federal elections law. The Ernst campaign denied any wrongdoing.