AD: GUN CONTROL – 2 ADS

This ad could run in an election cycle shortly after the next major mass shooting. School shootings move voters. Many gun owners do not vote Democrat, but they are not the target audience. We’re after moderates, non-voters, and the undecided, especially the young in urban areas. These two ads on gun control will help persuade many of them to vote Democrat. 

GUN CONTROL – AD 1

60 seconds 

This ad uses a montage of video news clips, graphics, and voiceover. We see and hear Democratic lawmaker Chris Murphy making an emotional plea in Congress to ban assault weapons; another Dem says, “It’s time raise the gun purchase age to 21.” We see a visual of Republican Ted Cruz speaking in Congress, followed by news footage of mass shootings in schools, and finally, at the end, news clips showing the faces of the children who died. Over this we hear a grieving, crying parent saying, “My son is dead,” and one or two others, and the voice of a child saying, “When is mommy coming home?” Actors are used for the voices, and no names or cities are mentioned. As the short VO begins, we see a headline come onscreen: “Democrats want to ban guns,” and immediately an animated red stamp, LIE, stamps across it.

VO

Do Democrats want to ban guns? No. [LIE stamp here]

The truth is, Democrats have fought for years for a few common sense measures — stronger background checks — a ban on assault rifles — and raising the purchase age to 21 — but Republicans in Congress blocked them all. How many mass shootings will it take?

Give Democrats a majority in both Houses in Congress, and they won’t ban guns, but they will pass a gun control law that will make everyone safer. Including our children. Vote Democrat, and this time, vote.

Fade up title with sound of wind blowing:

Vote Democrat

Disclaimer: PAID FOR BY CONGRESS MAJORITY PAC. NOT AUTHORIZED BY ANY CANDIDATE OR CANDIDATE’S COMMITTEE

GUN CONTROL – AD 2

This ad begins with short clips of news coverage of mass shootings at schools — police helping students evacuate schools. Over this, we hear the voices of grieving children and anguished parents. Actors will be used to say these lines: 

FATHER: I lost my son.

MOTHER: (Crying) My daughter is gone.

CHILD: (Crying) I lost my Dad. 

CHILD: I lost three classmates.

MOTHER: I lost my son.

We fade to black. 

CHILD: When is Mommy coming home?

In silence, these titles fade up in silence, but we are also recording this VO as a backup, in case it works better than titles: 

TITLE: In July, 2022 Senate Republicans refused to raise the purchase age from 18 to 21 for semi-automatic weapons. 

Fade up in silence:

TITLE: They also refused to ban the sale of assault weapons.

Fade up in silence:

TITLE: Vote Democrat

AD: IMMIGRATION

A video of this ad is near the top of this page, so we have placed the script at the bottom.

VO: 

In February 2024, the Senate passed the strongest immigration bill in decades. Even though the bill contained much of what Republicans have long wanted, they feared the bipartisan bill would show Democrats as strong on immigration. So House Republicans killed the bill, and the crisis at the border continues.

If Democrats win in November, they’ll pass the bill that House Republicans killed. Democrats want to fix the border crisis.

With a Democratic majority in both Houses of Congress, Washington will start working again. But with a divided government, Republicans will keep causing gridlock for political gain, and good bills will not get passed.

America can’t afford that. In this election, Vote Democrat — and this time, vote.

AD: THE ECONOMY

During the VO, we see videos and news sound bites related to the events mentioned. 

VO: 

Which Party is better for the economy? Under Clinton, America had 8 years of prosperity. But Bush deregulated the banks and helped caused the 2008 mortgage crisis.

Obama took office with the economy near total collapse, but he and his Democratic majority in both Houses passed bills that brought the economy back.

After Trump, Biden took office with the economy again in crisis.

Republicans’ don’t-regulate ideology causes crises. We need less ideology and more case-by-case pragmatism.

Democrats give us solutions that solve our problems. Biden brought inflation to 2.5% without causing a recession, and he created over 15 million new jobs.

For a strong economy, vote Democrat – and this time, vote.

Fade up title:

Vote Democrat

Fade up:
CongressMajority.org

Disclaimer: PAID FOR BY CONGRESS MAJORITY PAC. NOT AUTHORIZED BY ANY CANDIDATE OR CANDIDATE’S COMMITTEE

 

NOTE: A longer, digital version of this ad will include the following:

The stage was set for the crash of 1929 by President Coolidge, a Republican ideologue who loosened credit, allowing people to buy stocks on margin. The Great Depression was prolonged by his successor, another Republican ideologue who stubbornly believed in austerity. Tax revenue had greatly declined, and Herbert Hoover insisted on a balanced budget.

Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt turned things around after he took office in 1933. He passed the New Deal, a huge expansion of government spending, focused on providing jobs for Americans and eradicating poverty.  Democrat FDR’s policy and vision is today credited with bringing our nation back from the Great Depression,  restoring the US economy, and bringing tremendous prosperity back to America.

Democrats Obama and Biden also passed policy that brought the nation back from the brink. 

History repeats itself, and voters need to be reminded of who caused the economic crises, and who fixed the problem.

OUR STRATEGY 

For the mid-term election in 2026, improved messaging is what Democrats need most. 

Most of our ads focus on one issue, and some take a wider view. Our ads on the economy, immigration, gun control, and climate change make a compelling case to elect Democrats.

Our spot on immigration lets voters know that Republicans killed the strongest immigration bill in decades for political gain. Our ad on the economy points out that America prospered under Clinton, but George Bush deregulated the banks and caused the financial collapse of 2008. Obama took over with the economy in a major crisis, and led the nation back to a strong economy. But when Biden succeeded Trump, the economy was again in a major crisis. The ad concludes that the Democrats’ policies have seen the stock market rise to historic highs, and guided by pragmatism, the policies of Democratic Presidents have led to prosperity since the Great Depression, but the policies of Republicans, guided by an oversimplistic “don’t regulate” ideology, have often led to economic crisis. 

CMPAC’s ads will be reasonable in tone, centrist, and not strident. We never forget who our target audience is: swing voters. The kindly grandfather actor who hosted our 2018 ads sent the right message.

That said, we’d like to think big and invite President Obama or Michelle Obama to host one or two of our ads. In others, an unknown actor may be more effective; that will be up to our ad agency.

Every ad will end with the title, Vote Democrat. 

We’ll be nimble: during a heat wave, we’ll run our powerful climate change ads. 

In the days following a school shooting, we’ll run our moving gun control ads. Our ads about inflation, the economy, immigration, and Roe do not need an event. 

The ads above are intended for broadcast, and digital versions will be placed on Twitter, Facebook, and other advertising platforms. We’ll also use broadcast text messaging. 

We envision major ad buys in tossup races and battleground States; ads will be tested with focus groups before they run. Taken together, our powerful ads have good potential to propel Democrats into a majority in both Houses. 

By now there is little doubt about the effectiveness of attack ads: they help candidates win elections. It’s CMPAC’s opinion that the Democrats’ past reluctance to attack Republicans as a group has made them look weak, while the repeated attacks on Democrats by Republican politicians and pundits has made them appear strong. It’s time to fight fire with fire.  

The Harris campaign may be following the new idea that people vote more with their intuition about a candidate’s humanity than with their knowledge of the candidate’s policies. A new study showing evidence of this was presented by CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on GPS, August 11, 2024. This may explain why Harris has chosen to project hope and joy to voters, and initially offered less substantive discussion of her policies. 

However, Congress Majority PAC is needed to play the Bad Cop to the Harris-Walz’ approach, and attack Republicans as a group. It’s clear that we are not going to sing kumbaya with the GOP in the short term. Biden looked weak when he called for unity, and some key elements of Biden’s agenda did not pass. It was a victory for Republicans. 

We need to win in November, and we can. Trump blasts Democrats at every turn, and many Republican politicians follow his lead. His base listens and becomes motivated.

Most Democrats in Congress will not attack Republicans as a group. Congress Majority PAC’s ads are needed to do that.

In recent years, a dominant Republican strategy has been to unite in order to stop Democrats from passing any legislation. That’s a key part of their strategy, and worked for them. To counter this, one of our best ads calls attention to the gridlock they’ve caused for political gain. We point out that Democrats have been willing to compromise, but Republicans have not. Gridlock follows, and much-needed laws, like immigration reform last February, do not get passed. This ad ends by telling voters, “Let’s end the gridlock, and get Washington working again. Vote Democrat.” 

SUMMARY: We can win over undecided voters and possibly many more, but only if strong, clear messaging is used.  Reasonable attack ads like the ones in script form above will light the way. Millions of swing voters and disillusioned non-voters in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin will rally behind our ads, and many who see them will turn out and vote Democrat.

In sum, Congress Majority PAC’s ads can help Democrats take a majority in both Houses in November and in 2026. 

NOTE: Every ad above is fully copyrighted 2020 – 2024 by Patrick Reynolds. These ad concepts may not be copied. We stand ready to work together, and would welcome your support and collaboration