Gun Safety Group to Spend $9M in Select State Elections

Everytown for Gun Safety's political arm plans to spend $9 million on Democrat candidates in the legislative elections of five states, part of the group's $45 million spending plans overall up and down the ballot, NBC News reported on Wednesday.

The spending will be used mainly for digital and TV ads in state house and senate elections in Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania, states with at least one legislative chamber where partisan control is up for grabs in November.

"So much of the national progress we've made on gun safety can be traced back to pioneering laws passed at the state level," Everytown for Gun Safety President John Feinblatt said in a statement. "Over the last few election cycles, Everytown has built a winning playbook for electing gun-sense champions in key state legislative seats in order to flip chambers and pass life-saving legislation."

He added that "in the run-up to Election Day, we're going all-out to make sure voters know which candidates will prioritize keeping their schools and communities safe from gun violence — and which candidates are putting them at risk by standing in the way."

Everytown's campaign, its first investment in such races this election cycle, is the latest by outside groups seeking to help Democrats flip or keep control of legislatures in crucial battleground states.

Other organizations making such a commitment include the States Project, a Democrat-aligned group which plans to spend $70 million on legislative elections in nine states this year. In addition, Forward Majority, a Democrat super PAC, intends to spend $45 million.

The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee has a goal of spending $60 million on similar contests, with the Democratic National Committee and the American Civil Liberties Union also committing money to the issue.

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