CNN
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A ferocious advertising campaign is underway with passage of President Donald Trump’s landmark policy bill hanging in the balance, as political groups and business interests spent at least $35 million just this month to try to sway key members of Congress and their constituents.
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina was facing the pressure from both sides before he announced Sunday that he wouldn’t seek reelection in 2026. Americans for Prosperity, an arm of the conservative megadonor Charles Koch’s political network, spent nearly $2 million this month in key media markets such as Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham.
“Trump’s tax cuts put money back in my pocket, and they’re helping young families save for their first homes,” says a woman featured in one of the ads from AFP. “Congress needs to save our tax cuts and protect prosperity.”
At the same time, the Democratic-aligned group Unrig Our Economy spent nearly $1 million hammering Tillis over Medicaid cuts in the bill.
“Sen. Thom Tillis could vote to take away our health care and give tax breaks to billionaires,” an ad from the group warns.
Other Republicans in swing districts face the same dynamic heading into a midterm campaign in which they will need to reach at least some voters who don’t back Trump without angering the president or his core supporters. In Tillis’ case, he announced he wouldn’t seek reelection hours after Trump called for him to face a primary challenge because he didn’t support a procedural vote on the “big, beautiful bill.”
“We so often hear of members concerned about their general reelection efforts, but that is all for naught if you can’t get through a primary,” said John Thomas, a Republican strategist and ad maker. “To add even more pressure, the GOP base is extremely supportive of President Trump, much more than their individual federal representative. Break rank with Trump and there is a price to pay.”
Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon, a Republican from a battleground district who last week announced plans to retire, commented Friday on the advertising blitz surrounding the legislation.
“I think the other guys, look, they put $500,000 on me this week saying ‘Don Bacon’s cutting Medicaid,’” he told CNN’s Manu Raju. “There’s a lot of goodness here, but we gotta talk about it and show the voters.”
In June alone, according to data from the ad-tracking firm AdImpact, a sprawling collection of large PACs and interest groups spent more than $35 million on dozens of ads about the bill, which contains a range of Trump administration policy priorities on taxes, spending and immigration.
Republicans account for about half of that spending, while Democrats account for about a quarter and independent and business PACs for another quarter. Hundreds of thousands of dollars more have been spent on ads not explicitly mentioning the sweeping legislation but referencing looming policy changes and parochial interests, backed by other business and lobbying groups.
Late Saturday night, after intense negotiations, the sweeping bill narrowly cleared a major procedural hurdle in the Senate by a 51-49 vote, backed by several key swing votes — among those buffeted by ad campaigns — in the spotlight, such as Maine Sen. Susan Collins, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley.
Major challenges for the giant tax and spending bill remain, however, as it still faces amendments and a final vote in the Senate. The House will have to vote to accept a significantly changed piece of legislation from the Senate after only narrowly approving its own version of the bill weeks ago.
A group aligned with Trump’s political network, “Securing American Greatness,” has spent more than $7.7 million on ads in June, leading all advertisers with a broad campaign, much of it aimed at shoring up support among House members.
“Mariannette Miller-Meeks just voted for President Trump’s working family tax cuts that mean higher wages and lower taxes for working families,” says an ad from the group targeting the key battleground representative from Iowa who won her last reelection by 798 votes.
At the same time, the pro-Trump group is hammering congressional Democrats in competitive districts for their opposition to the bill, raising the prospect of higher taxes if an extension of 2017 tax cuts, included in the legislation, fails to pass.
“It’s Washington’s game, taxing us to bankroll their liberal waste,” says an ad from the group targeting California Democratic Rep. Josh Harder, reelected in 2024 by a margin of about 9,000 votes. “Tell Josh Harder we can’t afford his tax hikes.”
With the key procedural hurdle cleared on Saturday, Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer underscored the political challenges would get easier once the bill was passed.
“Well, it doesn’t get easier,” the North Dakota senator said. “I just think, at some point, you just have to take what you know — all the data, all the analysis, all the discussion, all the hearings — and apply them to a vote. Pass the bill. And the sooner we do that, the sooner all the good things will kick in, and that will alleviate, I think, people’s concerns.”
