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Congressional Integrity Project Launches Massive Anti-Impeachment Offensive

Dec 12, 2023

PRESS RELEASE         Contact: press@congressionalintegrity.org
For Immediate Release
Date: December 12, 2023

This week, the Congressional Integrity Project launched a no-holds-barred campaign targeting members of the Biden 17 to ensure these MAGA Republican members from districts won by President Biden are held accountable for following along blindly with the massively unpopular push by the MAGA House GOP to impeach President Biden, with no evidence of wrongdoing whatsoever.

Polling

To show the Biden 17 that impeachment is not a top priority of their constituents, the Congressional Integrity Project commissioned polling conducted by Public Policy Polling of voters in the Biden 17 congressional districts across the country. The poll found that 74% of Americans (including 68% of independents) in the Biden 17 districts think the House of Representatives should focus more on issues like the economy, inflation, crime, and border security over impeaching President Biden. 90% of voters in these districts including 93% of independents want Congress to stop playing partisan games and work to address these issues keeping them up at night. 

Other Topline findings include:

  • A majority (52%) of voters in these districts believe impeachment is more of a partisan political stunt, including 53% of independents.
  • 52% of these voters think an impeachment inquiry would be more about hurting Biden politically than finding the truth, including 54% of independents. 
  • 54% of voters in the Biden 17 districts say they do not trust Mike Johnson to be a fair arbiter of impeachment. 
  • A plurality of these voters (44%) said they would be less likely to vote for a member of Congress if they voted for an impeachment inquiry, compared to just 24% who said they would be more likely to.
  • 62% of voters in the Biden 17 districts said Congress should not impeach President Biden without any evidence, including 71% of independents.

View the poll HERE and the memo HERE.

Paid Media

The Congressional Integrity Project also launched a new paid digital ad campaign in the Biden 17 districts. The ads highlight the immense failures of the MAGA House GOP this year and call on the Biden 17 to stop focusing on the evidence-free impeachment of President Biden and instead focus on the priorities that matter most to Americans across the country like access to health care and the cost of living. 

The ads are part of a months-long seven-figure advocacy campaign, run by the Congressional Integrity Project, to hold Republicans accountable for ignoring critical priorities and instead, focusing on bogus investigations and an impeachment inquiry to hurt President Biden and help Donald Trump return to the White House. 

Watch the ads here: 

Billboards

This week, the Congressional Integrity Project also launched two mobile billboards in California, calling on residents to contact their representatives and tell them to vote no on the bogus Biden Impeachment. One mobile billboard will be targeting John Duarte and will be traveling around Modesto, CA from 9 AM-5 PM PST on December 11, 2023. Another will target David Valadao and circle his Bakersfield District office at 2700 M Street, Suite 250B, Bakersfield, CA from 9 AM – 5 PM PST on December 11, 2023.

CIP also launched two new billboards in New York, targeting Reps. Marc Molinaro and Brandon Williams. The billboards will be up from December 11 – December 14, 2023. A billboard targeting Rep. Molinaro is located at Route 17 @ 4324 Watson Blvd, Binghamton, NY, and one targeting Rep. Williams is located at 621 Brighton Avenue, Syracuse NY.

District Calls

This week, the Congressional Integrity Project and allies will also make calls to constituents in select Biden 17 districts, advocating that they contact their representative and tell them to vote no on the bogus Biden Impeachment inquiry and start focusing on their constituent’s real priorities. The members of the Biden 17 will be held accountable for voting for a massively unpopular push by the MAGA House GOP to impeach President Biden.

Press Calls

On Monday, December 11, CIP hosted a press call in California with speakers, U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell, Dennis Aftergut of Lawyers Defending American Democracy, and Brad Woodhouse, senior advisor to the Congressional Integrity Project, who joined to discuss the bogus impeachment inquiry of President Biden, the wrong priorities of the MAGA GOP, and new polling results conducted in the Biden 17 districts. CIP will also host a press call in New York on Tuesday, featuring Congressman Dan Goldman.

Watch the full California briefing here

Media Mentions

CIP was mentioned or quoted in the following 10 articles or news appearances.

Washington Examiner: Democrats accuse Johnson of flip-flopping on Biden impeachment inquiry to appease Trump. “‘Just three weeks ago, MAGA Mike Johnson said there was no evidence of wrongdoing to support a formal impeachment, but after hanging out at Mar-a-Lago with the twice impeached, 4-time-indicted, chief election denier Donald Trump, he has changed his mind,’ Kyle Herrig, president of the Democratic-aligned Congressional Integrity Project, said in a statement. ‘Mike Johnson has gone from being ‘Speaker Election Denier’ to ‘Speaker Bogus Impeachment’ and he’s putting Republicans in swing districts directly in the political crosshairs.’” [Washington Examiner, 12/4/23]

Colorado Springs Gazette: Democrats accuse Johnson of flip-flopping on Biden impeachment inquiry to appease Trump. “‘Just three weeks ago, MAGA Mike Johnson said there was no evidence of wrongdoing to support a formal impeachment, but after hanging out at Mar-a-Lago with the twice impeached, 4-time-indicted, chief election denier Donald Trump, he has changed his mind,’ Kyle Herrig, president of the Democratic-aligned Congressional Integrity Project, said in a statement. ‘Mike Johnson has gone from being ‘Speaker Election Denier’ to ‘Speaker Bogus Impeachment’ and he’s putting Republicans in swing districts directly in the political crosshairs.’” [Colorado Springs Gazette, 12/5/23]

Daily Beast (Opinion): Democrats Can Win if They Make the 2024 Election About Healthcare. “‘It’s the most powerful kitchen table issue there is,’ says Leslie Dach, executive chair of Protect Our Care, a health advocacy group, and senior advisor to the Congressional Integrity Project, a pro-Biden rapid response group. ‘Politically, it’s a loser for them (GOP) because it’s a totally non-partisan issue. The only place it’s partisan is in Washington, D.C. Everybody in America worries about getting sick, and how they’re going to pay for it, and they’re trying to make it an ideological issue.’” [Daily Beast, 12/5/23]

New York Times: McCarthy Says He Will Leave Congress at the End of the Year. “‘Kevin McCarthy represents everything that is wrong with congressional Republicans and bears much of the responsibility for the rise of the cult of MAGA and Trump,’ Kyle Herrig, the executive director of the Congressional Integrity Project, an advocacy group, said in a statement. Mr. Herrig noted that Mr. McCarthy’s legacy included the decision to empower Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, one of the most extreme members in the House, and give former President Donald J. Trump a political ‘lifeline’ after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, when Mr. McCarthy traveled to Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate to pay his respects.” [New York Times, 12/6/23]

Sacramento Bee: A majority of Californians will vote yes on Proposition 1 next spring, survey says. “The Congressional Integrity Project, formed in response to the MAGA movement, issued a statement expressing relief that McCarthy won’t be sticking around for the duration of his term. ‘Kevin McCarthy represents everything that is wrong with Congressional Republicans and bears much of the responsibility for the rise of the cult of MAGA and Trump,’ said Executive Director Kyle Herrig, in a statement. Herrig pointed out that McCarthy provided Trump ‘a lifeline’ after the Jan. 6 insurrection, empowered “the grotesque” Georgia lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene, launched an unfounded impeachment inquiry into Biden and more. ‘Kevin McCarthy did real damage to America and to Congress and his legacy will bear that out. Good riddance,’ Herrig said.” [Sacramento Bee, 12/7/23]

Politico New York Playbook: A big day in the budget cut fight. “Freshman House Republicans in New York are being knocked in a digital ad campaign as their GOP colleagues edge toward the impeachment of President Joe Biden. The ads from the Democratic-allied Congressional Integrity Project target Reps. Anthony D’Esposito, Nick LaLota, Mike Lawler, Marc Molinaro and Brandon Williams. ‘They have failed to address access to healthcare or rising costs, as promised when they ran for office,’ Kyle Herrig, the group’s executive director, said in a statement. ‘Instead, they have wasted all year investigating President Biden and his family, and have not turned up a single shred of evidence of wrongdoing whatsoever.’” [Politico, 12/11/23]

Roll Call: Johnson sets up formal impeachment vote McCarthy never sought. “Still, Lawler and the others from Biden-won districts have been getting some pressure. The Congressional Integrity Project, a nonprofit organization established to push back on House Republicans’ investigations into the Bidens, on Friday announced an ad campaign urging those moderates to ‘stop focusing on the evidence-free impeachment of President Biden and instead focus on the priorities that matter most to Americans across the country like access to health care and the cost of living.’” [Roll Call, 12/11/23]

Newsmax: House GOP Moving Closer to Biden Impeachment Vote. “GOP lawmakers from Biden-won districts have been getting some pressure. The Congressional Integrity Project, a liberal nonprofit organization, announced an ad campaign urging moderates to ‘stop focusing on the evidence-free impeachment of President Biden and instead focus on the priorities that matter most to Americans across the country like access to healthcare and the cost of living,’ Roll Call reported.” [Newsmax, 12/11/23]

Cami Mondeaux, of the Washington Examiner: 

[Twitter, 12/11/23]

Washington Examiner: GOP districts won by Biden less likely to back members who support impeachment inquiry: Poll. “EXCLUSIVE — Voters who live in districts won by President Joe Biden in 2020 but are now held by Republicans in the House are less likely to support candidates who vote to open an impeachment inquiry into the president, a new poll reveals… The polling was commissioned by the Democratic-aligned Congressional Integrity Project, whose goal is to push back against Republican efforts to investigate Biden and his family members. ‘The MAGA Republican-led House … has accomplished nothing for real people,’ Brad Woodhouse, a senior adviser for CIP, said. ‘They’re getting ready to leave Washington for another long vacation, and one of their final acts will be to help the only person they seem to care about, Donald Trump, by approving an evidence-free impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden. These members should know that this new poll shows a majority of voters from swing districts see this play exactly for what it is: a stunt designed to hurt Joe Biden politically which undermines real priorities these voters care about — and it’s a political loser.’” [Washington Examiner, 12/11/23]

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