RALEIGH, N.C. (WGHP) – The Democratic National Committee launched in North Carolina today a digital ad campaign to attack Republicans for what the DNC calls their plan to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits.
The ad, following Sunday’s 87th anniversary of the date when Social Security became law, is largely positioned to bring attention to GOP comments about – and what Democrats say is a plan to eliminate – Social Security and Medicare.
It primarily focuses on what Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida) wrote in his “11-point plan to rescue America” and what he said in subsequent TV interviews about plans for “sunsetting” “all federal legislation” in five years, which would require Congress to readopt programs it wants to keep.
Scott’s plan calls for “Congress to issue a report every year telling the public what they plan to do when Social Security and Medicare go bankrupt.” Scott, in an interview on Fox News following the release of his report, said that those comments were “Democrat talking points.”
“No one that I know of wants to sunset Medicare or Social Security, but what we’re doing is we don’t even talk about it,” Scott said in that interview. “Medicare goes bankrupt in four years. Social Security goes bankrupt in 12 years. I think we ought to figure out how we preserve those programs.”
The ad the DNC released Monday, which appears on YouTube and is designed to target North Carolina, talks about those discussions and reiterates how Democrats had supported those social programs. It follows an ad about Scott’s plan released in May and another in April about taxes.
“Instead of celebrating Social Security on its 87th birthday, Republicans are doubling down on their ultra-MAGA agenda of cutting Social Security and Medicare, which could put the benefits that North Carolina seniors rely on in jeopardy,” DNC Chair Jaime Harrison said in a statement released with the ads. “As Democrats are poised to lower prescription drug costs and continue protecting Medicare for seniors, Republicans have rallied behind plans that could slash their hard-earned benefits – showing that only one party is fighting for North Carolina seniors this November.”
Democrats are touting the Inflation Reduction Act that President Joe Biden will sign into law this week. The measure, approved Friday by the House, allows Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices and provides other health care benefits although it focuses on climate change.
Democrats are focused on midterm elections to try to maintain control of the House and to expand their single-vote control of the Senate. North Carolina has an open Senate seat to replace the retiring Republican Richard Burr.
Democrat Cheri Beasley and 13th District Rep. Ted Budd (R-Advance) are locked in a race that most polls find to be very close, with either candidate holding a slight margin in various polls. 538.com’s aggregation basically calls it a dead heat.
NC’s 14 Congressional races would suggest that Republicans are favored in eight (including the 5th, 8th and 9th that covers parts of the Piedmont Triad), Democrats are favored in seven (including the 6th District that includes Greensboro and most of Winston-Salem and the 4th that includes Alamance County), and the redefined 13th District is a toss-up among first-time candidates.
