Ad buys support Nunn and Miller-Meeks' focus on inflation and border security • Iowa Capital Dispatch

Iowa Republican congressional candidates and supporters are stepping up their campaign advertising in races that Democratic officials have eyed as potential favorites for the 2024 general election.

While Republican incumbents are considered favorites in the Iowa congressional elections, leaders of groups such as the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the campaign arm of the Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives, recently announced plans to buy $2.5 million worth of ads for the Iowa elections, saying Democratic challengers would face “vulnerable” Republicans.

The ad reservations included buys in Iowa's 3rd Congressional District, where Democrat Lanon Baccam is challenging U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn, and Iowa's 1st Congressional District, where Democrat Christina Bohannan is challenging U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks.

As Democrats try to make this election more exciting, Republican organizations have also invested in advertising to help Nunn and Miller-Meeks defend their seats. The American Action Network, a nonprofit advocacy group that works with the U.S. House Republicans' Congressional Leadership Fund, announced Thursday that it would spend $5 million on campaign ads supporting 18 Republican candidates in the House, including Nunn and Miller-Meeks in Iowa.

The organization is running ads urging Iowans to tell Nunn and Miller-Meeks to “keep fighting for lower costs.” It is also urging Republican lawmakers to support the Red Tape Reduction Act, a measure also supported by U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, another Iowa Republican. The proposal would codify some of former President Donald Trump's executive orders related to limiting and tracking the costs of federal regulation.

Dan Conston, president of the American Action Network, said in a statement that the recent ad buys were a means of fighting measures passed by Democrats during President Joe Biden's administration.

“Biden and Harris' toxic agenda, which has led to more illegal immigration and crushing price increases, has left families worse off,” Conston said in a press release. “Congress has already taken steps to clean up this mess, but there is still much work to be done. And it starts now.”

The group's ads supporting Republicans in Iowa both highlighted incumbents' efforts to lower the cost of living for Iowans. But in other states, such as Colorado and New Mexico, the ads focused on the Biden administration's immigration policies. Republicans have heavily criticized Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, for failing to adequately enforce immigration laws at the country's southern border.

On Friday, Nunn released an ad titled “Secure,” arguing that Biden and Harris “refuse to secure our border” and linking illegal immigration to growing problems across the country.

“Teenagers are overdosing on fentanyl, young women are being sold into human trafficking, violent crime is on the rise,” a spokesperson explains in the ad. “We cannot trust them to keep us safe.”

While Nunn presents himself as a moderate candidate who is committed to working with all parties, he also emphasizes border security – a top issue for Republicans ahead of the November election. Speaking at the Iowa State Fair in early August, Nunn said the US-Mexico border was the “most important issue” he heard from his voters.

Democrats and some advocates argue that Republicans are wrongly linking immigration to issues like the fentanyl crisis, because the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has reported that most fentanyl is smuggled into the country through legal ports of entry by citizens, not undocumented immigrants.

In addition, according to USA Today reporting, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported that the number of illegal migrants crossing the border has declined every month for the past five months, with July seeing the fewest number of migrants arrested during Biden's term.

In a press release about the ad, Nunn said he spent time in the military fighting to protect and defend America, but “the Biden-Harris open border crisis makes that even more difficult.”

“Not only is the Biden-Harris administration refusing to secure our border, but their policies have created this crisis,” Nunn said in a statement. “Enough is enough. It's time to stop the open flow of fentanyl, human trafficking and crime into our communities and secure our southern border today.”