Right-wing group accuses House Democrats of planning to cancel the 2020 election

The Club for Growth, a dark-money conservative group, launched a series of four ads attacking Democratic congresswomen. The ads, ostensibly urging them to oppose impeachment, accuses them and other House Democrats of scheming to nullify the 2016 election and cancel the next one.

The spots target first-term Reps. Katie Porter (D-CA), Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), Xochitl Torres Small (D-NM), and Lauren Underwood (D-IL) and accuses them of having abandoned their alleged campaign promises of “moderation, independence, [and] results.”

Their supposed sin: being part of the Democratic Party, which is considering impeaching Donald Trump. The ads provide no citations to indicate when they promised those things or what they did to contradict it.

“These days it’s all about impeachment all the time. One party pushing for power by any means necessary: nullify the last election, cancel the next one,” the ad claims — again with no evidence.

While the ads show no footage of any of the four congresswomen advocating for anything of the kind, it does contain a misleading clip of Rep. Al Green (D-TX) saying “if we don’t impeach this president, he will get reelected.”

In real life, Green said, “I am concerned if we don’t impeach this president, he will get reelected.” He further argued, “If we don’t impeach him, he will say he’s been vindicated. He will say the Democrats had an overwhelming majority in the House and didn’t take up impeachment. He will say we have a constitutional duty to do it if it was there and we didn’t. He will say he’s been vindicated.”

The ad also repeatedly features an image of Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), as well as Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) — even though none of them are mentioned in the ad.

Not a single House Democrat has proposed nullifying the 2016 election nor canceling the 2020 election. Indeed, even if Trump were impeached and removed by a two-thirds vote in the GOP-controlled Senate, Mike Pence would assume the presidency. It is hard to imagine anyone on the left would want to cancel the 2020 elections with Trump or Pence in power.

A press release on the group’s site goes even further with is smears of the four lawmakers.

“Democrats know they can’t win in 2020 with a socialist agenda so instead of winning at the ballot box, they are throwing a Hail Mary with the impeachment process,” the group’s president, former Rep. David McIntosh (R-IN), claims. “Representatives Katie Porter, Xochitl Torres Small, Abigail Spanberger, and Lauren Underwood were elected promising moderation and independence, and voters deserve better than their toxic and reflexive allegiance to the Democrat’s Socialist agenda.”

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.