Patty Murray Defends Dem Donations to ‘MAGA Republicans’

Sen. Patty Murray (D., Wash.) supports the Democratic Party’s efforts to boost election-denying Republicans, whom she has called a threat to democracy.

Murray on Sunday told CNN State of the Union host Dana Bash that she supports Democrats’ million-dollar effort to boost candidates who support former president Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. But just last month, Murray released an ad slamming members of “the MAGA mob,” who she says “want to seize power” in the midterm elections.

Bash pressed Murray on Democrats’ controversial campaign strategy, asking “If election deniers are a threat to democracy, are you okay with your fellow Democrats helping them win their primaries?”

Murray sidestepped the question, assuring Bash that “what Democratic supporters are doing is working to make sure that we have a Democratic majority in the United States Senate.”

Democrats are throwing money behind extreme candidates in hopes that they will be easier to beat in the general election. In New Hampshire, the party’s Senate Majority PAC purchased $3.2 million in ad time to attack moderate Republican Chuck Morse, Politico reported Friday. Morse, a long-serving state senator, is set to square off against far-right GOP candidate Don Bolduc in a September senate primary. Bolduc is beating Morse by double digits in the most recent polls, according to RealClearPolitics.

Republicans made their own ad buy in the race of nearly $4 million for Morse. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) has pledged $23 million in TV ads for the general election in November.

In Pennsylvania, Democrats spent more than $840,000 to help Doug Mastriano, a Republican gubernatorial candidate who attended the January 6 rally in Washington, D.C. In Illinois, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Democratic Governors Association spent $30 million to attack a moderate black Republican, helping the Trump-endorsed state senator Darren Bailey win the GOP primary.

Murray leads her Republican opponent, Tiffany Smiley, by 3 points, according to a recent poll.

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