THIS WEEK RURAL AMERICA AMERICANS UNITED kicked off its first media campaign, to formally introduce ourselves to the people of Washington State. The campaign is the first step in our innovative plan to turn the center of the state purple. Starting this week with a $350,000, 14-month media blitz, RAU will blanket the 4th District with 20,000 separate radio spots highlighting traditional Democratic Party values.
The radio ads, in English and Spanish, are believed to be the largest public awareness campaign ever launched in the state. At this time, with right-wing messaging dominating public discourse, we estimate that 80 percent of the Central Washington population has never heard a positive Democratic message. We know it’s going to be a marathon, but this campaign will begin to change that.
Along with advertisements, we have started a program of outreach to local newspapers, TV and radio stations, podcasts and blogs, beginning with our first news release, which you can read here. We will be following up on the release with personal visits to newsrooms around the district, to introduce ourselves and our program to journalists who for years have been spoon-fed Republican propaganda.
Just as we were finalizing the news release, the 4th District’s venal Congressman Dan Newhouse blessed us with a perfect example of why Central Washington is so sorely in need of organizations like RAU, which can provide residents with what may be their first exposure to core Democratic values.
Newhouse, who clearly doesn’t believe himself in any way accountable to his electorate, voted several times to choose bullying, election-denying Jim Jordan to be Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives — an office that is next in line to the presidency in the event the president and vice president are sidelined. (Fortunately for all of us, Jordan lost.)
Jordan, as you know, is a far-right extremist who has been accused of ignoring hundreds of sexual abuse claims against Ohio State University team trainer Richard Strauss when Jordan was an assistant wrestling coach at the school. He was also among the leaders of the failed fascist Republican plot to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Let’s watch and see if he gets indicted.
That Newhouse could vote for such a despicable human as Jordan to serve as the third-highest elected official in the land says a lot about Newhouse’s values — or lack thereof. A simple question we’d like to hear Newhouse answer:
Is Jim Jordan the kind of man the people of your district should have as a role model for their children?
Listen for the pro-Democratic messages on these stations
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