Progressive Ad Hits Mitch McConnell on Social Security, Medicare
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(Stephen Lance Dennee/AP Photo)
The Progressive Change Campaign Committee is launching a new television ad pushing embattled Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to oppose cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits.
The ad features Kirk Gillenwaters, a Louisville, Ky., worker who has been employed at a Ford plant for decades.
"We work hard for these companies and we're promised a secure retirement in return," Gillenwaters says. "But our pensions are being cut and we need Social Security."
"When Sen. Mitch McConnell supports cutting Social Security, he's breaking a promise - and he's hurting our families," he continues.
The ad comes at a time when McConnell, a 36-year veteran of the Senate, is being targeted by national Democrats, who hope Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan-Grimes can unseat him. And McConnell also has a challenger from within his own party, the Tea Party-backed businessman Matt Bevin.
This week alone, McConnell's campaign attacked Bevin in a mailer sent to Kentuckians calling him a "snake oil" salesman. And the campaign released another online ad this week attacking Bevin for appearing to side with Democrats by opposing him.
Meanwhile, Lundergan-Grimes has routinely attacked McConnell for being part of the "disease of dysfunction" in Washington.
PCCC commissioned its own polling last month showing that McConnell was more vulnerable if he supported proposals like raising the retirement age or reducing the cost-of-living adjustments.
The PCCC ad was to run starting today with an initial expenditure of $21,000 - an amount that could grow based on additional online fundraising by the group from its membership.