NEW YORK (AP) — Conservative parent rights group Moms for Liberty will spend more than $3 million on advertising in multiple states through November to grow membership and attract voters. It's a plan. The vows we made last year In 2024, political activity will become even more active nationwide.
But the huge investment comes with a twist for a group that had previously said it was focused on local school board elections. Specifically, it will target voters in Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, and Wisconsin, which are among the most important battleground states in this year's presidential election. Some of its first ads directly criticize the Biden administration. The group hopes to expand its efforts to three other battleground states that will help decide the presidential election.
The campaign signals a return to national attention for Mamas for Liberty after a rash of bad press and criticism. This group will be in 2021 Rising star of conservative politics But faces a backlash variousscandal and for efforts to remove references to LGBTQ+ identities and structural racism from the classroom.
The president's coordinated push in battleground states also raises questions about the group's intentions and funding. The nonprofit has long classified itself as a grassroots gathering of like-minded parents. But Moms for Liberty co-founder Tina Deskovich told The Associated Press that the new campaign was created because the group had been approached by “investors” who wanted the group to “grow in certain states.” He said he was born in
She declined to identify the funders, and as a federally recognized 501(c)4 social service organization, the nonprofit is not required to disclose its funders. Since October, the group's affiliate PAC, Moms for Liberty Action, has received 16 payments from Restoration PAC, which is backed by conservative billionaire Richard Uihlein, according to Federal Election Commission records. He received $1,000. Restoration PAC did not respond to calls from The Associated Press, and it is unclear whether its funds are supporting Mamas for Liberty's latest campaign.
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Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said Mamas for Liberty is cautious about its true intentions.
“Given the timing of their new effort and not disclosing their investors, they're telling you two things: One, they're telling you it's not grassroots. And two, they're saying they're somebody's operative,” Weingarten said.
Deskovich said Moms for Liberty's goal is to “grow more grassroots chapters” and that existing local chapters are also supporting the campaign. She pointed out that there are only seven Moms for Liberty chapters in Georgia, where the campaign began this week.
The ad campaign will be expanded to Arizona, North Carolina and Wisconsin over the next month, Deskovich said. The group hopes to promote its campaign in presidential election battleground states of Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania later this year. The campaign in Nevada will focus on Clark County, which includes Las Vegas.
Deskovich said Mamas for Liberty analyzed its members and found that about 20% were not registered to vote. With that in mind, he said the group's goal is “to wake people up and take action at all levels of government, not just the local elections we support.”
Moms for Liberty has not endorsed the presidential election — Deskovich said the group will invite all three top presidential candidates to its annual summit this summer — but the new ad pitch still includes billboards directly criticizing new President Joe Biden. Title IX Rules Provide safety nets for LGBTQ+ students. Moms for Liberty participated in several states last week. sue the Biden administration Block those rules.
Biden campaign spokesman Charles Rutvak said Mamas for Liberty is “demonizing teachers and working to ban books as if we were living in Soviet Russia.”
“President Biden is proud to campaign alongside educators, parents and America's young people to strengthen public education for all Americans and make our schools gun violence-free,” he said.
In addition to billboards opposing “gender confusion” and urging parents to have more of a voice in the classroom, Deskovich said the campaign also included media interviews, targeted digital ads, and emails and text messages to voters. It is planned to be included.
The campaign comes as Moms for Liberty has been mired in recent scandals, including the recent sexual assault investigation against the husband of co-founder Bridget Ziegler, who left the group shortly after starting it. I was disappointed.
Ms. Ziegler's husband, now ousted Florida Republican Party Chairman Christian Ziegler, has since Cleared Charges of rape and video voyeurism. However, following news of the incident, some members of Mamas for Liberty quit the group and their local chapter closed down, citing differences in values.
Local Moms for Liberty chapters and chapter leaders have also faced criticism over the past year. Moms seeking freedom Dismissal of two branch managers Last fall, women in Kentucky were photographed with members of a far-right group. Proud BoysLast summer, at the group's Indiana chapter apologized and condemned Adolf Hitler After making a statement in its inaugural newsletter using a quote attributed to the Nazi leader.
Amid criticism, candidates recommended by the group performed disappointingly in last year's school board elections. less than one-third According to an analysis by the Brookings Institution, they are winning the race.
Deskovich said negative stories about the group have not negatively affected its funding.
“No one contacted me and said, 'Because of stories like this, we're not going to donate to you anymore,'” she said. “Everyone understands that the work we do is subject to intense attack and scrutiny.”
Among the battleground states that Moms for Freedom are targeting as presidential candidates, North Carolina is the only one that will hold a state school superintendent election this year. The race pits Republican Michelle Morrow, a homeschool parent and conservative activist who signed the Moms for Liberty Parent Pledge, and Democrat Morris, a former Guilford County Schools superintendent. – “Mo” Green will be competing.
Morrow did not respond to requests for comment about Mamas for Liberty's new campaign. Greene said in an emailed statement that protesters and Moms for Freedom have spread “conspiracy theories and hateful propaganda that denigrates teachers, students, and parents.”
“The very soul of public education is on the ballot in North Carolina this November,” he said. “The good news is that I know that advocates for public education, people who believe in the transformative value of public education, will seize this moment and break through these distorted and false views. is.”
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