The House GOP’s campaign arm in recent weeks has successfully pressed three advertising companies to pull down Democratic billboard displays bashing vulnerable Republicans over Medicaid — a setback to Democratic campaigners hoping to make health care a liability for battleground Republicans around the country.
In a series of cease and desist letters, the National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC) said the imposing roadside ads — sponsored by a splinter group of the top Democratic super PAC in six battleground districts — promoted “patently false” claims against the targeted GOP incumbents, warning the companies that they would be complicit in defaming those lawmakers if the billboards were left up for public consumption.
The threat proved successful — the billboards in all six districts were taken down almost immediately.
The development, parts of which were first reported by the Washington Examiner, has buoyed Republican campaign operatives, who say it gives them a playbook for defusing Democratic messaging — which has leaned heavily on warnings that Republicans intend to gut Medicaid — heading into next year’s midterms.
“This proves our argument that Democrats are lying in their Medicaid messaging, and will make it much more challenging for them to make those arguments going forward,” said Mike Marinella, national spokesperson for the NRCC.
Democrats think otherwise. They’re defending the veracity of their Medicaid campaign, saying the ad companies didn’t pull the billboards on the basis of the accuracy of the NRCC complaint but because they’re terrified of the current political moment, in which President Trump is attacking political opponents in the public and private sectors alike.
“These were unfortunately decisions not based in fact, but made due to coercion and threats from anti-free speech Republicans,” said CJ Warnke, spokesperson for House Majority Forward, a liberal advocacy group closely affiliated with the House Democrats’ leading super PAC.
“House Republicans and the [Congressional Budget Office] have publicly confirmed that they are cutting Medicaid, and they will stop at nothing to silence the truth.”
The billboard fight is just one battle line in the broader partisan clash over the Republicans’ plans for enacting Trump’s favored tax cuts and broader domestic agenda, the fate of which could hinge on how GOP leaders approach Medicaid.
Amid that fight, House Majority Forward (HMF) contracted last month with three companies to display billboard ads in six districts held by Republicans facing tough reelection contests across five states: Virginia, Texas, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Colorado. Weeks earlier, those lawmakers voted to adopt the House Republicans’ budget blueprint, designed to usher Trump’s agenda into law, which set the stage for steep Medicaid cuts later in the year.
Each billboard contained the same formulaic message, accusing the GOP lawmaker of voting “to cut Medicaid in order to give billionaires like him tax cuts.” The “him” was a reference to Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest person and the leader of Trump’s efforts to slash federal spending, whose picture appeared on the billboards along with the targeted lawmaker.
HMF’s broadest contract was with Lamar Advertising Company, a Louisiana-based firm hired to display the Medicaid attack ads in four GOP districts, represented by Reps. Jen Kiggans and Rob Wittman in Virginia, Monica De La Cruz in Texas and Ryan Mackenzie in Pennsylvania.
On March 19, NRCC lawyers wrote to Lamar arguing that the HMF’s claims are “demonstrably false,” noting that nowhere in the House-passed budget resolution was Medicaid even mentioned. If the company did not pull down the ads, the NRCC warned, “you will be liable for the defamatory messages spread to voters in each district.”
“To avoid defaming a half-dozen sitting Members of Congress, your company must cease any and all plans to display these billboards to the public,” the NRCC lawyers wrote.
The same day, Wendi B. Loup, Lamar’s assistant general counsel, responded with a letter, sent via email, saying the company had complied with the request.
“Lamar’s National Sales Campaign Specialist has confirmed that the copy is no longer running,” she wrote. Loup also offered “to assist the NRCC with counter messages or future campaigns.”
A spokesperson for HMF accused the NRCC of using “dirty tricks” to force the hand of Lamar, while alleging the company has ties to GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson (La.), which might have been a factor in Lamar’s decision.
Loup and Lamar did not respond to requests for comment.
HMF hired a second contractor, Georgia-based Link Media Outdoor, to display a billboard ad in Nebraska attacking GOP Rep. Don Bacon over Medicaid. On March 22, the NRCC sent a cease and desist letter to Kerry Yoakum, general counsel for Link Media, with the same defamation warning the group sent to Lamar.
On March 24, Yoakum responded to say the company “has decided to tell the advertiser that it will no longer run the advertising content but will allow them to submit revised content that accurately reflects the circumstances.”
“If they decide to resubmit, I will review the content to determine that it is accurate,” he added.
The HMF spokesperson said the group declined to submit a revised ad “because we stand by the facts” of the original message. The spokesperson also claimed that, during discussions between lawyers for HMF and Link Media, the company’s counsel expressed fears of sparking a public “controversy” if the billboards were not pulled down.
Yoakum and Link Media did not respond to requests for comment.
HMF’s contract with a third company, Colorado-based Street Media Group, followed the same narrative arc. Street Media was hired to run an attack ad in the district of Rep. Gabe Evans (Colo.), a vulnerable Republican who represents a region north of Denver.
On March 26, the NRCC wrote to the company with its defamation threat. The same day, Ashley Steinbach, Street Media’s general manager, responded to say the company had “addressed the concern, and the ad was taken down as of 4:15 MDT this afternoon.”
Citing conversations with Street Media, the HMF spokesperson said the company simply wanted to “avoid becoming part of a political battle.”
Reached by phone Tuesday, Steinbach declined to comment.
At the heart of the dispute is the fate of the Medicaid program under the Republicans’ recently adopted budget blueprint, which GOP leaders passed through both chambers of Congress earlier this month.
Trump’s agenda includes several major provisions, including an extension of his 2017 tax cuts, which by themselves would add trillions of dollars to the federal debt.
To counter those deficit spending effects, House GOP leaders have vowed to cut at least $1.5 trillion from federal programs over the next 10 years. More than half of that — $880 billion — is under the purview of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over Medicaid.
The Congressional Budget Office, Congress’s independent scorekeeper, has asserted that it’s mathematically impossible to reach that level of savings without hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to Medicaid spending.
Republicans say they can reach their mark by cutting waste, fraud and abuse under Medicaid, which provides health coverage to more than 70 million low-income and disabled people. They’re also floating eligibility changes, such as new work requirements for nondisabled adults. Both strategies, they say, would allow Republicans to cut Medicaid costs without cutting patient benefits.
During last week’s House vote on the GOP budget blueprint, moderate Republicans pressed Johnson and GOP leaders for assurances that their support for the resolution wouldn’t translate into cuts to Medicaid benefits later in the year. They said they got that pledge.
“We just wanted to be clear again with the Speaker, as we’ve had numerous times before, that we won’t vote for something that shifts benefits from seniors and our vulnerable population that rely on traditional Medicaid,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) said after the vote.
Democrats aren’t convinced that there’s any way to slash Medicaid spending at the levels the GOP budget demands without eroding patient benefits. They’re vowing to continue taking that message directly to voters — even after the NRCC’s success in taking down the Medicaid billboards.
“Republicans can run from their proposal, which is the largest Medicaid cut in American history, but we will never allow them to hide,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told reporters in the Capitol last week.
“Now that the committee process has been set in motion in connection with the budget resolution,” he continued, “they will have to spell out the very cuts to Medicaid and other programs that we have been making clear for weeks now they are determined to visit on the American people.”
Mychael Schnell contributed.
