Giffords group commits $15 million to boost Kamala Harris and gun safety candidates
The gun safety group Giffords is rolling out a $15 million campaign to help Kamala Harris beat Donald Trump and to help battleground Democrats win the House.
WASHINGTON — The gun safety group Giffords is rolling out a $15 million campaign to help de facto Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris defeat Republican rival Donald Trump, as well as help House candidates in battleground districts who favor tougher gun laws.
The new spending blitz, first reported by NBC News, will cover paid TV and digital ads, direct mail (in English and Spanish), new polls to help allies hone their messages and the deployment of staffers and surrogates, including a co-founder of the group, former Rep. Gabby Giffords, D-Ariz., to persuade and turn out voters. The group is focusing those resources on swing states like Michigan and Arizona, as well as California and New York, where a series of competitive races could decide control of the House.
“Battleground state voters are consistently ranking gun violence as among their top concerns,” Giffords Executive Director Emma Brown said in a telephone interview. “The issue is actually moving votes and able to really affect electoral outcomes. So we are planning to use our resources this year, particularly the $15 million, to support gun safety champions and to communicate directly with voters who are uniquely mobilized by guns in key battleground races across the country.”
Brown declined to comment on the fact that Harris is vetting a co-founder of the group, Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., former Rep. Giffords’ husband, saying it isn’t getting involved in “the vice president speculation.”
With mass shootings now a regular feature of American life, Giffords' internal research has found not only that gun legislation has high support but also that it attracts groups of voters with the power to decide the election — primarily suburban women, Latinos and Black voters. Perceptions of Democrats improved “when we layered on guns messaging,” Brown said.
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