CEO DATELINE - Chamber sets plan to keep Senate in GOP hands
CEO DATELINE - Chamber sets plan to keep Senate in GOP hands
- May 31, 2016 |
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WILLIAM EHART
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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has launched a "Save the Senate" campaign to support vulnerable U.S. Senate Republican candidates in an effort to preserve the GOP's 54-seat majority in that body, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
"We're going to raise as much as we can to be competitive between now and election day," Scott Reed, senior political strategist at the Chamber, told the Journal.
While industry groups fear a Donald Trump nomination will harm GOP prospects down ballot, the Chamber effort includes both Trump supporters and those Republicans who have not endorsed him, the Journal reported.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a former GOP presidential candidate who has not backed Trump, is honorary co-chairman and fundraiser for the Chamber campaign.
Though the Chamber says it does not participate in presidential politics, CEO Tom Donohue has excoriated this election's rhetoric, calling it "morally wrong" and "politically stupid." Trump's statements about Mexican and Muslim immigrants were a clear target.
The Chamber funded a $10 million ad campaign in May in swing states with tight races, such as those of Sens. Rob Portman in Ohio, Kelly Ayotte in New Hampshire, Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania, Ron Johnson in Wisconsin and John McCain in Arizona, according to the Journal.
"This is one of the most significant elections for the Senate and House in recent American history and it's imperative we retain pro-business majorities," Reed told the Journal. "The business community will not be watching from the sidelines."
The Chamber has spent more than $11 million in independent expenditures during the 2016 election cycle, according to Open Secrets—nearly $7 million for Republicans and nearly $4 million against Democrats.
The group has laid out $1.3 million on behalf of Toomey, $575,000 for Portman, $375,000 for Johnson, and $350,000 on behalf of McCain and Ayotte as of May 16, according to Open Secrets.
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