Ahead of Virginia’s crucial Senate elections in November, a strategic push is underway by a PAC aligned with Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin and the Republican State Leadership Committee (RLSC) PAC. In an exclusive joint statement obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation, it has been revealed that these PACs are orchestrating a comprehensive multimedia advertising campaign with a budget exceeding $1 million.
Scheduled for November 5, 2024, Virginia’s General Assembly elections will determine the composition of both houses. With the current Democratic majority in the 40-member Senate, Republicans are aiming to gain control. The collaborative advertising initiative, spearheaded by the Spirit of Virginia PAC endorsed by Youngkin, along with support from the RLSC and the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus, has pinpointed specific target seats within the Virginia Senate.
Focusing on seats where Republicans believe they have a strong chance of unseating Democratic incumbents, the multimedia campaign intends to mobilize GOP voters and rally support for the upcoming elections.
“We’ve already delivered on our promise to invest earlier than ever in Virginia to make sure that we have quality candidates in key battleground districts, and now we’re pressing forward in the general election by helping Virginia Senate Republican nominees get across the finish line in November,” RSLC PAC President Dee Duncan said in a statement. “This will no doubt be an uphill climb, which is why we’re working closely with Governor Youngkin’s Spirit of Virginia PAC and Senate Republican leadership to strip away at the Democrat majority.”
Virginia, which was won by the Democratic candidate for president in 2016 and 2020, elected Youngkin in 2021 on a platform focused partly on education, specifically the enhancing of parental rights and removal of “critical race theory” from elementary school curricula — a platform that Republicans believe can win them control of the upper chamber.
“These new ads will run on television, OTT, CTV, and digital platforms across targeted Senate districts and will air through Labor Day,” the statement notes, adding that it is “part of a broader plan that includes direct mail, text messages, digital ads, and TV ads targeting likely voters in Virginia.”
Among the ads to be aired is “Soft-on-Crime,” which targets Democratic Sen. Monty Mason of the 1st Senate District, which includes Williamsburg and Newport News.
“Mason voted to release thousands of convicted criminals early. He and Virginia Democrats would rather go soft on crime. That’s a crap deal for Virginia and we don’t want it,” the ad’s narration states.
The ad also invokes a statement by Mason regarding Virginia’s new law requiring age verification for pornographic websites, which resulted in sites such as Pornhub cutting off service to the state. Mason was captured on a hot microphone mocking the new law — saying “it’s all a part of this parental crap that they’re selling” — which conservatives have hailed as a successful model of targeting porn websites.
The Virginia Democratic Party did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
