DETROIT — With a week to go before Michigan's primary, national Democrats are spending big to help the far-right challenger to freshman Republican U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer, who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said it's spending at least $425,000 in the Grand Rapids media market to run a TV ad over the next week about Meijer's opponent, John Gibbs of Byron Center.
The ad is a fake attack on Gibbs that could help promote his name among Trump's base, claiming Gibbs is "too conservative" for west Michigan but also saying he was "handpicked" by Trump to run for Congress, worked in his administration and would pursue Trump's policies in office.
Gibbs supports "a hard line against immigrants at the border and so-called 'patriotic' education in our schools," the narrator says in the ad.
The ad could be particularly helpful for Gibbs, who served in Trump's U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, because he's not raised enough money to run TV ads for his own campaign to date. Meanwhile, Meijer and his allies have been on the air for weeks, spending millions of dollars to promote the congressman and attack Gibbs.
It's the latest example of Democrats meddling in Republican primaries this cycle by boosting more extreme or pro-Trump candidates whom they view as less of a threat to the Democratic nominee in the general election, analysts say.
Democrats previously got involved in the primary challenge against moderate Republican Rep. David Valadao in California, as well as the races for U.S. Senate in Colorado and governor of Pennsylvania, among others.
"The DCCC boosting John Gibbs is clear evidence of who Nancy Pelosi prefers in this race. Democrats don't want to face Peter Meijer in the November election because Peter is the best candidate to represent west Michigan in Congress," Meijer spokeswoman Emily Taylor said.
"We are confident that voters will see through Democrats' political games while Peter remains focused on the issues that matter most to the people he represents."
Gibbs' campaign said the ad shows Democrats are underestimating Trump's popularity in the district. "Gibbs feels pretty strongly that voters will figure out they were much better off under Trump than they are now under Biden," spokeswoman AnneMarie Schieber said.
But a national GOP strategist who is closely following the primary said Republican voters should be wary of any candidate that the DCCC — with ties to House Democratic leadership — is spending money to help.
The strategist has argued that Meijer is the better candidate for the general election because his independent, "maverick" brand would be better profile for a seat that President Joe Biden would have carried by 9 percentage points.
Meijer, a U.S. Army veteran from Grand Rapids Township, was one of 10 House Republicans who voted last year to impeach Trump for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. While only in his first term, he benefits from wide name recognition, coming from the family who owns the Meijer superstore chain.
As in 2020, when the district drew millions of dollars in money and attention from outside groups, the new 3rd Congressional District is expected to be a competitive battleground this fall. After redistricting, the district now leans more Democratic than the old iteration, covering the Grand Rapids, Grand Haven and Muskegon areas.
Meijer defeated attorney Hillary Scholten, the presumptive Democratic nominee, in 2020, 53% to 47% when the seat was open due to Libertarian Rep. Justin Amash's retirement.
The contest was the most expensive U.S. House race in Michigan in 2020, totaling $16.1 million in candidate and outside spending, according to the Michigan Campaign Finance Network.
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