Does it just suck to be him?
The progressive health care advocacy group Save My Care launched a digital ad campaign Monday morning targeting Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) over his sponsorship of a new Obamacare repeal bill that would make deep cuts to Medicaid.
Save My Care will not disclose the size of the ad buy, but told TPM it will target independent voters in Nevada on Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms.
The ad features a cancer patient and cites a new study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities finding that the bill co-sponsored by Heller would allow states to waive some of Obamacare’s protections for people with pre-existing conditions.
Earlier this summer, Heller opposed two Senate bills that would have repealed the Affordable Care Act and ended the Medicaid expansion that his state and others have used to cover hundreds of thousands of low-income residents, but he voted for a so-called “skinny repeal” bill that Nevada’s Republican governor strongly opposed.
And the timing couldn’t be more perfect:
Heller, along with Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.), is pushing a bill that would convert states' funding for ObamaCare subsidies and Medicaid expansion into block grants.
It would also eliminate the individual and employer mandates.
Heller is one of the most vulnerable Republican senators up for reelection next year and has been targeted by Democrats and campaign groups for his support of repeal all year.
Heller hedged on whether he would support an earlier repeal bill this summer before eventually casting a vote in favor of it, illustrating the struggle of being a Republican up for reelection in a state won by Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in November.
But this bill faces long-shot odds of passing. The Senate faces a procedural deadline in two weeks of getting it done, and Cassidy told reporters Friday they are still short of the votes it needs to pass.
And Heller needs to feel the pressure being that he’s the most vulnerable Republican Senator next year:
The race involving Nevada’s senior senator could determine which party controls the country’s upper chamber for the next two years.
Republicans control the Senate 52-48 and are defending fewer Senate seats in 2018 than Democrats, though Heller is the only member of the GOP seeking re-election in a state Hillary Clinton won in 2016. Of the 34 contested Senate seats in 2018, 23 are held by Democrats.
The national health care debate this summer highlighted the importance of Senate control. When just three Republican senators joined Democrats to vote against the so-called “skinny repeal” of the Affordable Care Act, the GOP’s top legislative priority stalled.
A Public Policy Polling survey of 847 Nevada voters in July found that Heller had a 22 percent approval rating, with 55 percent disapproving of his job performance. Heller is being challenged by Danny Tarkanian, who won the Republican primary in the 3rd Congressional District over now-lieutenant governor candidate Michael Roberson before losing to political newcomer Jacky Rosen in the 2016 general election.
Voters could get to see a rematch between Tarkanian and Rosen, this time for Heller’s Senate seat. Rosen announced her 2018 bid for Senate less than a year after she was sworn into the House in January. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, continues to mull a run for Heller’s seat as well.
If you live in Nevada, go ahead and raise Hell to Heller over this:
Las Vegas
8930 West Sunset Road
Suite 230
Las Vegas, NV 89148
Phone: 702-388-6605
Fax: 702-388-6501
Reno
Bruce Thompson Federal Building
400 S. Virginia Street, Suite 738
Reno, NV 89501
Phone: 775-686-5770
Fax: 775- 686-5729