A Republican anti-Trump organization announced that it will launch an $11.5 million ad campaign in swing states in a bid to stop former President Donald Trump from getting a second term in the White House.
Republican Voters Against Trump announced on Tuesday that its big money push would target voters in the battleground states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Arizona with ads and billboards featuring former Trump voters who vow not to support him again.
The group plans to spend $4.5 million in Pennsylvania, $3 million in Michigan, $2.2 million in Wisconsin and $1.5 million in Arizona.
The ad buy will focus in the media markets of Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, and Philadelphia; Grand Rapids and Detroit; Madison and Milwaukee; and Phoenix. It will include a 30-second compilation ad with former Trump voters talking about why they now support Vice President Kamala Harris, testimonial ads warning of the “dangers” of another Trump administration, and 79 billboards spread across each state.
The campaign will also spend $375,000 in Nebraska’s Second Congressional District, where Rep. Don Bacon, Nebraska Republican, is locked in a tight race against Democratic candidate Tony Vargas. In 2020, President Biden became the first Democrat in more than a decade to win the district.
Republican Voters Against Trump was founded and run by GOP political strategist Sarah Longwell, and is an offshoot of prominent Never Trump voice Bill Kristol’s Defending Democracy Together.
“Donald Trump has destroyed the Republican Party,” Ms. Longwell said in a statement. “And every election cycle he drives more and more Republicans to vote for Democrats, because they believe Donald Trump and the GOP candidates who imitate him are unfit for office. We help elevate the voices of these disaffected Republicans and build a permission structure for many other traditional GOP voters to reject Donald Trump and his MAGA movement, even if it means voting for Democrats with whom they might have policy differences.”
Ms. Longwell’s organization started as Republican Accountability in 2020, then rebranded as the Republican Accountability Project during the 2022 midterm cycle and now Republicans Voters Against Trump.
The organization spent millions in 2020 to defeat Mr. Trump, and millions in 2022 on ads in seven swing states against conservative candidates who pushed election conspiracy theories that featured commentary from then-Rep. Liz Cheney, the top Republican on the House Jan. 6 Committee.
Earlier this year, the organization launched a $50 million campaign that shared more than100 testimonials from former Trump voters who refused to vote for him again in a move to target moderate Republicans and Republican-leaning voters in swing states.
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.
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