Republican Senator Dean Heller of Nevada denounced the Senate GOP health plan on Friday. Within hours, a pro-Trump group sought to punish him by launching a 7-figure ad buy against him.
That included a Twitter and digital ad campaign targeting the senator, including a video that accuses him of “standing with” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a reviled figure in conservative circles.
“Unacceptable,” the video says. “If you’re opposed to this bill, we’re opposed to you.”
America First Policies is set to expand its campaign early this week with TV ads that will go after the Nevada senator.
The offensive is aimed at both punishing Heller and at swaying his vote, and it is a stunning act of political retaliation against a member of the president’s own party — one who faces a perilous path to re-election in 2018. Senior Republicans, many of whom are deeply worried about Heller’s political standing and increasingly nervous about the midterms, were shocked and spent the weekend measuring the possible fallout.