NRSC Weekly Rundown: ‼️ Dems Dump $3M in NJ ‼️, Sinema REALLY hates Arizona, Heitkamp’s “Colossal Mistake,” Trump Tears into Tester and more!

And here’s this week’s edition of the NRSC Weekly Rundown: 

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NRSC’s New Ads: #INSen#MTSen#AZSen#MTSen#NDSen

#AZSen: Kyrsten Sinema is hitting the panic button after footage surfaced late last week showing her calling Arizona the “meth lab of democracy” and mocking the voters of her state as “crazy” to out-of-state liberal groups. Sensing the damage her comments are having on her failing campaign, Sinema cut a full 60-second ad where she lies about ever having anything good to say about the state she hopes to represent. And in this week’s debate, Sinema showed Arizonans exactly why they can’t afford to elect her to the United States Senate. She refused to apologize for a radio interview where she encouraged Americans to join the Taliban and repeatedly lied about it, trying to say her comments were taken out of context. This prompted CNN, who broke the story, to clarify that Sinema’s comments were NOTtaken out of context at all and that she’s lying to cover up her trail. And, of course, even more evidence of Sinema’s bizarre, radical past surfaced. A new report from the Washington Examiner found that Sinema literally summoned witches to her anti-war rally and encouraged them to “come ready to dance, twirl, and stay in touch with your inner creativity and with the Earth.” Then, yet another video surfaced of Sinema ridiculing her state and calling Arizonans “crazy” behind closed doors, only to be followed by a video, from this year, showing Sinema’s disgust at even having to utter her state’s name. To top it all off, Sinema gave a truly bizarre radio interview, where she bewilderingly admitted it’s “hard” for her to say she’s a “proud Democrat” and tried to explain it away by saying she’s a “proud Arizonan.”

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#NDSen: In a desperate attempt to save her job, Heidi Heitkamp got busted exploiting the traumatic experiences of sexual assault survivors. She released a letter signed by survivors attacking Kevin Cramer, but a number of women on the letter have come forward saying the Heitkamp campaign used their names without their consent. Heitkamp’s “colossal mistake” prompted brutal media coverage in North Dakota and nationally just three weeks from Election Day, putting the final nail in the coffin of her disastrous campaign. And in last night’s debate, voters saw firsthand why Cramer has a commanding lead in the polls over Heitkamp, as he hammered her for supporting sanctuary cities, opposing President Trump and failing to put North Dakota first. Following the debate, Heitkamp released a new ad trying to paint herself as pro-life, which is absolutely ridiculous considering she’s repeatedly doubled down on her pro-abortion record and even went as far as high fiving New York liberal Chuck Schumer on the Senate floor after voting against banning late-term abortions earlier this year.

#INSen: Vice President Pence paid a visit to his home state this past weekend to tell Hoosiers they need to replace Mexico Joe Donnelly with Mike Braun. The Vice President told Hoosiers that Mexico Joe is not on their side and voted against the administration on everything from tax cuts to Justice Brett Kavanaugh’sconfirmation. And now, Mexico Joe is sprinting away from the left as fast as possible, putting out one new ad decrying “socialists” and “the radical left,” and another Veep-esque TV ad, where Mexico Joe “chops” pre-cut wood and pretends to be a conservative. But there’s no hiding his record of voting with liberals on everything from tax cuts to Obama’s Iran Deal.

#TNSen: Phil Bredesen has repeatedly tried to distance himself from Chuck Schumer, but a new report from the Tennessee Star reveals that the Schumer-controlled DSCC has shelled out $1 million to fund the Tennessee Democratic Party and pay for 61 staffers. This new spending is in addition to the $5.7 million Schumer has already spent on Bredesen’s behalf through his dark money group, Majority Forward. Tennessee voters know they can’t trust Bredesen to stand up to Chuck Schumer and Washington liberals.

#MTSen: Hours before his visit to Montana, President Trump tore into Jon Tester on Twitter for his false smear campaigns and blatant obstruction in Washington saying Tester is “worse than the Democrat mob.” In his third visit to Big Sky Country, the President made the perfect case for why it’s time for Montanans to retire Tester, saying “If you want to drain the swamp, you must defeat the Democrats, and you must defeat Senator Jon Tester.” Montanans woke up to brutal headlinesfor Tester as polls continue to show this race neck-and-neck. And over the past weekend, Tester tanked in the Montana debate, laying out how he left Montana behind for the Washington swamp.

#MOSen: Claire McCaskill has joined her fellow Democrats in going as low as humanly possible as her campaign sputters. This week, McCaskill retweeted a blog post calling Josh Hawley’s young son a “prop,” and seemingly claiming that Hawley was lying about his son being diagnosed with a rare bone condition. After asking organizers to ban recording from her “public” town hall meeting earlier this month, attendees at an event this week were greeted with a notice advising that they could not “record, reproduce, transmit or stream” and that making “photographs, videotapes or other recordings” was prohibited. So much for accessibility…

#FLSen: Bill Nelson attacked Governor Rick Scott for hiding from voters this week, but Scott has been busy managing the recovery in the panhandle since Hurricane Michael made landfall. Nelson on the other hand, can’t be bothered with the hurricane relief effort anymore, telling the Tampa Bay Times, “I’m going to campaign. I’ve spent the last week in the Panhandle in those storm-ravaged counties, and have done everything I can do.” And in a fundraising email, Nelson balked at debating Governor Rick Scott in a CNN debate on October 25th, claiming he wants to debate on October 22nd “before” voting starts, even though Floridians have been voting by mail for weeks. Nelson was blasted by the Tampa Bay Times for his lame excuse, laying the blame squarely at his feet for preventing a debate between the candidates from happening.

#WISen: Tammy Baldwin stumbled in this weekend’s debate against Leah Vukmir, showing voters once and for all that she cares more about Washington than the folks back home in Wisconsin. Senator Baldwin failed to explain why she ignored the opioid crisis at the Tomah VA, lied about her record on health care, which caused health insurance premiums in the Badger State to nearly double and pretended her time in Washington has been anything short of a disaster for Wisconsin farmers.

#NJSen: New Jersey has officially become a four-alarm fire for national Democrats, and they are racing to save disgraced Senator Bob Menendez. The Huffington Post reports that Chuck Schumer’s super PAC, Senate Majority PAC, is dumping $3 millionto prop up Menendez’s failing campaign. Joining the stampede of national Democrats to rescue Menendez, Hillary Clinton continued her comeback tour by heading to the Garden State to raise money for the disgraced Senator. 

#OHSen: The first debate in the Ohio Senate race provided a clear picture of why Ohio needs to replace liberal career politician Sherrod Brown with Jim Renacci. On issue after issue, Sherrod Brown showed that he is too far left for Ohio. Brown struggled to run away from his liberal record on everything from immigration to taxes, and showed that he can’t be counted on to stand with Ohioans instead of his party bosses in Washington.

#MISen: In both of the Michigan debates this week, Debbie Stabenow failed to escape her ineffective record. For decades, Stabenow oversaw the destruction of Detroit’s auto industry alongside Jennifer Granholm and has been a reliable rubber stamp for the liberal left. Combat veteran John James has made it clear that Stabenow has been ineffective throughout her 43 years in office and has fought tooth and nail to oppose the President, even voting against commonsense policies like the tax cuts saving Michiganders more of their hard-earned paychecks.

NEWS AND NOTES:

Huffington Post: Top Democratic Super PAC Comes To Bob Menendez’s Rescue In New Jersey

The Senate Democrats’ leading super PAC is set to spend $3 million in bright blue New Jersey in an effort to save Sen. Bob Menendez, who has struggled to put away a Republican challenger after facing a corruption trial last year. Senate Majority PAC, which is controlled by allies of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), will use the cash to air a statewide ad attacking Menendez’s opponent. READ

Say Anything Blog: Women Say Heitkamp Campaign Identified Them as Sexual Assault Survivors Without Their Permission

Recently Senator Heidi Heitkamp’s campaign ran an ad (see below) formulated as an open letter sent to Congressman Kevin Cramer by survivors of sexual assault. The letter purports that some of Cramer’s recent comments about the controversy surrounding the appointment of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh were insensitive, but at least four of the women named in the ad feel like they got the raw end of the deal. Kady Miller of Bismarck is one of the women named in the ad, but says in a Facebook post that “A lot of these people listed, including me, did not give anyone permission for our names to be posted.” READ

Washington Examiner: Emails: Kyrsten Sinema summoned witches to her anti-war rally

Emails obtained by the Washington Examiner show Sinema inviting a prominent coven of feminist witches in Arizona called Pagan Cluster to celebrate International Women’s Day and to protest the war in March of 2003. Code Pink protesters wore pink, obviously enough, and the Women in Black wore black. But Sinema encouraged the witches to wear “colorful clothing and come ready to dance, twirl, and stay in touch wit

h your inner creativity and with the Earth.” READ

Yahoo: North Dakota Democrat Heitkamp scrambles to catch Cramer

An already tenuous bid for a second term has taken on new urgency for Heitkamp since she voted against Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court. Heitkamp is scrambling to find her footing amid fears that the race against Republican Rep. Kevin Cramer is slipping away, and with it Democrats’ slim hopes of a Senate majority. READ

IndyStar: HBO’s ‘Veep’ gag and new Joe Donnelly political ad are basically the same

But fans of HBO’s “Veep” looked at it and said, “boy, this sure looks familiar.” That’s because the Donnelly ad posted to his YouTube page Wednesday is very similar to a commercial called “Chopping” that aired on the Julia Louis-Dreyfus led comedy for fictional congressional candidate Jonah Ryan. READ

Washington Examiner: PolitiFact is forced to retract a story claiming Claire McCaskill didn’t say what she definitely said

The National Republican Senatorial Committee clipped the roughly 18-second interaction and posted it online. And the clip is the only thing PolitiFact reviewed before issuing its ruling, writing that “the audience member never said anything about private planes in the clip; he appears to be referencing the freedom and low cost of the overall U.S. commercial aviation system.” The only problem is: McCaskill herself confirmed the constituent was asking about traveling by private plane. READ

National Review: Jon Tester Is Wrong for Montana

Montana is an idiosyncratic state that has an independent political streak. Democratic senator Jon Tester is an idiosyncratic person, but not an independent politician. Through his two terms in the Senate, Tester has been a consistent vote for his party on matters of national import, and conservative Montanans who want someone to represent them on these issues need to look elsewhere. READ

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