Anti-Israel protests that have erupted on college campuses across the U.S. in recent weeks over Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip have prompted new political attacks by Republicans against vulnerable Democrats running for Senate this year. It’s accelerating.
“Death to America. Threats to Jews. Attacks on police. Anti-Semitic mobs occupying our universities. Students radicalized by the far left are acting like terrorists.” says a narrator in a new ad series from the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC). Senate Republican campaign arm.
spots Targeting 4 Democratic Congressmen — Sens. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Jon Tester of Montana — and likely Democratic Senate candidate Elissa Slotkin of Michigan. This includes members of the Diet. All five parties are tough targets for the NRSC as Republicans aim to regain control of the Senate in November’s elections.
The narrator claims that President Biden and Democrats “want you to use your tax dollars to pay off your student loans to fund this mayhem.”
Click here for the latest updates from FOX News on campus protests across the country.
Senate Democrats targeted by the NRSC include Sens. Jon Tester, D-Mont., Bob Casey, D-Pennsylvania, and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. (Getty Images)
The ad ends with a narrator urging viewers to tell Democrats to “stop bowing to the woke mob and put America first.”
Although the NRSC is spending just five figures to run the spot, we can expect to see similar themed major advertising in the near future.
“This is the most damaging issue for Democrats who have tried to defund the police,” argued Mike Berg, NRSC communications director.
“If Democrats continue their anti-Semitic violence on college campuses, you can bet it will be shown in TV ads.”
Biden condemns violent protests but refuses to call in National Guard
The protests, some of which have turned violent this week, have garnered a lot of attention on cable news networks and online. And they appear to be giving Republicans plenty of ammunition to use in this year’s ballot box showdown.
Anti-Israel demonstrators hold flags on the roof of Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall on April 30, 2024 in New York City. (Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
It’s not just NRSC.
In a closely watched Senate race in the battleground state of Pennsylvania that could decide the House majority, prospective Republican candidate Dave McCormick on Friday said, “Amid rampant anti-Semitism on campuses across the country, Bob… Casey has failed to stand up for what’s right,” the email said. ”
Watch the FOX News series on anti-Semitism exposed here
Earlier this month, Casey worked with Republican Sen. Tim Scott to introduce a Senate version of the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, but he stressed that “the law must be enforced on campuses.”
As House Republicans seek to maintain their fragile majority, the National Republican Congressional Committee last week released something similar He is targeting 37 Democratic Party members in battleground districts.
“Tell House Democrats it’s time to stand up for Israel. It’s time to stand up for what’s right,” the ad’s narrator urges.
Hundreds of students protest outside the Palestinian Solidarity Encampment on the UCLA campus on Wednesday, May 1, 2024, in Los Angeles. (Keith Birmingham/Media News Group/Pasadena Star News via Getty Images)
The NRSC’s ad buys, while modest, could also be an appetizer for further increases down the road.
Republicans have been largely unanimous in their response to the protests, branding them anti-Semitic and anti-American, while Democrats have struggled to find a consistent message regarding the demonstrations.
Brian Walsh, a veteran Republican consultant and longtime top communications strategist for House and Senate Republicans, argued that the protests are “a problem for Democrats on many levels.”
“First, they need the votes of young people who will vote for them in November, and it’s clear that they are very dissatisfied with President Biden, which will have a negative voting effect. Second, this motivates conservatives because it reminds them of the woke people that have become the hallmark of this administration,” Walsh said. . “And it comes at the same time the president is telling working-class Americans that they need to pay their fellow college students’ student loans.
“We should expect Republican candidates across the country to ask their Democratic opponents a very simple question: Will they support the protesters who sided with Hamas, or will they defend law and order and protect the U.S. The question for many Democrats is that they are disgusted with their liberal base and what’s happening at places like Columbia University and UCLA. Because they are caught between most Americans.
Mounted police work to contain demonstrators protesting the war in Gaza at the University of Texas at Austin on April 24, 2024 in Austin, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Democrats appear to be divided.
Some in the tight race are calling for a crackdown on campus protests.
“We all insist that anti-Semitism, hatred and violence are unacceptable,” said Brown, from Ohio.
But many progressives, who do not face a difficult re-election battle, have strongly defended the rights of demonstrators and opposed calls for federal intervention.
Progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont pointed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longtime leader, and said, “The crime of anti-Semitism is an immoral move promoted by Prime Minister Netanyahu’s extremist and racist government.” “It is outrageous and shameful that it is used to distract from illegal war policies.” .
“Democrats need to continue emphasizing two fundamental things: One, we are a nation of laws and we have important laws and rights,” veteran Democratic strategist Maria Cardona told Fox News. “One is that we allow it and people have the right to do it.” Protest peacefully. Protest peacefully.
“President Biden and the Democratic Party must continue to listen to the voices of Palestinians and those who represent the innocent lives being lost in Gaza, and the need for continued and expanded humanitarian assistance. It’s something Democrats are listening to and are working hard to get a ceasefire.
New York City police officers patrol as anti-Israel demonstrators demonstrate outside the Columbia University campus on April 18, 2024, in New York City. (Peter Garber, Fox News Digital)
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“The other side has always strongly rejected and condemned hate speech, violent rhetoric and anti-Semitism, and the harassment of Jewish students cannot and should not be tolerated,” Cardona stressed. “And those two points are a big departure from Donald Trump, who said he wanted to call in the National Guard and remove everyone and said he would deal harshly with protesters, even those who were peacefully protesting. In contrast, (he) has said this before: “That’s not the way it works in this country.” ”
As protests continue, Republican candidates and election committees are expected to keep up the pressure, but there are questions about how effective their efforts will be with voters.
An ABC News/Ipsos poll released this week found that few people said the U.S. demonstrations and fighting in Gaza were important to their vote in the fall election.
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