HRC launches final ad push to motivate pro-equality voters to the polls

Digital ads and mailers emphasize early and mail-in voting, and call for the defeat of Senate Republicans who enable Trump

By John Riley on October 15, 2020 @JohnAndresRiley

Screenshot of HRC’s “Don’t Get Comfortable” ad – Photo: Human Rights Campaign, via YouTube.

The Human Rights Campaign’s “Equality Votes” PAC has launched a final digital ad and direct mail campaign focusing on voter education and motivating pro-equality voters to the polls as the 2020 Election campaign enters its final three weeks.

The digital ad campaign, comprised of two new video ads, one focusing on educating voters about various options for voting and the importance of making a plan, and the other focusing on holding President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and U.S. Senate Republicans accountable for pushing through the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court instead of passing financial relief for Americans suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic.

HRC’s final investment is in addition to its initial $1.5 million digital ad reservation announced in September, bringing HRC’s total independent expenditure program spending to $2.7 million this cycle.

The first ad, titled “Urgency” highlights various voting options and urges viewers to make a plan to vote.

The ad, as well as accompanying versions supporting specific HRC-endorsed candidates, will run in 25 targeted congressional districts in Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin.

The video will appear on various online and social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Vevo, Hulu, Pandora, and other video or streaming platforms.

Equality Votes PAC has also partnered with Collective Super PAC to provide a $200,000 investment in streaming and terrestrial radio advertising to reach Black voters in Atlanta, Detroit and Milwaukee, and encourage them to vote in this year’s elections.

As part of its direct mail campaign, the LGBTQ rights organization will be sending out mailers on the availability and importance of early voting to 274,000 so-called “Equality Voters” — those for whom a candidate’s position on LGBTQ rights is a deciding factor — in North Carolina, and 75,000 Equality Voters in Maine on behalf of HRC-endorsed U.S. Senate candidates Cal Cunningham and Sara Gideon. The three mail pieces be mailed out over the next week, through Oct. 22.

The second ad,”Don’t Get Comfortable” highlight Senate Republicans’ decision to push through Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court, casting Trump’s nominee as a threat to LGBTQ equality, reproductive rights, and the Affordable Care Act.

“Don’t get comfortable,” the narrator intones in the ad. “Our hard-won rights in the courts? They want to chip away at them.”

The ad shows Barrett embracing the ideology of former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, an opponent of LGBTQ rights.

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“Anti-equality senators want to rush through this lifetime appointment instead of prioritizing relief during the pandemic,” the ad says, showing pictures of Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Martha McSally (R-Ariz.), Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), David Perdue (R-Ga.), Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), and John Cornyn (R-Texas).

“They are desperate and the clock is ticking. They know they’re losing,” the ad concludes. “Let’s vote them out. Today.”

“Already, over 12 million Equality Voters have requested their ballots for this election and millions more will be turning out to vote by mail, early in-person, or on Election Day. They are voting in record numbers to reject Donald Trump and Mike Pence as well as their enablers in Congress,” HRC Deputy Campaign Director Jonathan Shields said in a statement.

“The Human Rights Campaign’s Equality Votes PAC is investing in its largest effort ever — across 12 states inclusive of 25 competitive congressional districts and 96 state legislative districts — to educate and empower Equality Voters,” Shields added. “Our votes will be counted in contests up and down the ballot and when the results are in — Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will make history as the most pro-equality ticket ever elected.”

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