‘We need to stop him from running.’ Former McCaskill staff launch PAC to oust Hawley
A newly formed group has launched its first attack ad against Sen. Josh Hawley as it seeks to keep him from ever winning another election.
Just Oust Seditious Hacks PAC registered with the Federal Elections Commission this week. It launched an advertisement on Friday that blames the Missouri Republican for helping incite the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol last week.
The 75-second video ad begins by saying, “It started with a lie,” showing Hawley on Fox News saying the outcome of the presidential election “depends on what happens on Wednesday,” when Hawley and other members of Congress objected to the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral college votes.
But the video goes on to show what else happened last Wednesday: a mob scaled the walls of the Capitol building, breaking windows and doors. Shots were fired inside. And five people died in the riot.
The ad blames Hawley for leading “an insurrection against America.” It ends with the line: “We need to stop him from running.”
On its website, the new PAC calls Hawley and other officials who backed baseless claims of voter fraud in the presidential election “traitors.”
“The mob of seditionists who stormed the seat of American democracy were inspired and supported by several members of Congress including U.S. Senator Josh Hawley and others,” the website reads.
It’s unclear who exactly is behind the group, but it does have ties to former Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill. On Twitter, Thomas Hatfield, a former McCaskill campaign staffer, said he was “excited to be a part of this.”
Hatfield’s father, Chuck Hatfield, was McCaskill’s campaign attorney during her heated 2018 contest with Hawley. The younger Hatfield most recently worked as a video editor for Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly’s successful 2020 campaign.
“We expect Claire McCaskill and her team will be as effective with this campaign as they were with the last,” Hawley spokeswoman Kelli Ford said in a statement Friday. “They wasted more than $60 million in 2018 — and lost — after Missourians rejected Claire McCaskill’s failed liberal policies.”
Kyle Plotkin, the senator’s chief of staff and 2018 campaign manager, made reference on Twitter to Thomas Hatfield and Hawley crossing paths during the 2018 race.
“Thomas used to follow the family around as they ate lunch after church,” Plotkin said.
The PAC was organized by Mele Brengarth & Associates, a Washington, D.C., political consulting firm. Megan Brengarth, a University of Missouri graduate, is a principal of that firm and describes herself as a former organizer for McCaskill. She is the treasurer of the new PAC.
Brengarth did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Former McCaskill staffers Travis Mockler and Zoe Gallagher are also involved in the new PAC, Politico reported.
On Twitter, McCaskill said she had no involvement with the PAC, but she encouraged people to donate to the cause.
“Your money won’t be wasted,” she wrote.
Last week, The Lincoln Project, a group formed by former Republicans to defeat President Donald Trump, launched a national ad campaign accusing Hawley of sedition in an effort to prevent him from ever winning the presidency.
The advertisements are just the latest blowback for Hawley, who was the first U.S. senator to object to certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election. Before last week, he was widely viewed as a top contender for the presidency in 2024.
The senator lost a book deal with Publisher Simon & Schuster. He was abandoned by powerful Republican backers and donors. And companies in Kansas City and across the country have suspended donations to him or even asked him to return previous funding.
While the national pressure mounts on the former Missouri attorney general, not everyone has abandoned him.
The Senate Conservatives Fund, which was founded by former South Carolina GOP Sen. Jim DeMint, sent robo-text messages on Thursday contending that Hawley’s “decision to object to the election results showed tremendous courage.”
The text message referenced a small protest of 15 people that took place outside Hawley’s Virginia home and media criticism as examples of harassment that Hawley faced for the decision, but it did not reference the riot at the Capitol.
This story was originally published January 15, 2021, 1:41 PM.
