Anti-Trump PAC releases new ad targeting comments about Gov. Kim Reynolds

An anti-Trump organization is ramping up its advertising presence in Iowa, launching a new ad attacking former President Donald Trump for his recent critique of fellow Republican Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds.

A new ad from Republican Accountability PAC says Trump “has trashed conservative Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds on social media just because she won’t endorse him in the caucuses.” It also points to Trump’s absence from the Family Leadership Summit last week, saying Trump “snubbed Iowa Christians.”

The ad will run on cable and broadcast channels, including Fox News, the PAC said in a news release.

The ad references a Truth Social post by Trump, in which he attacked Reynolds for remaining neutral in Iowa’s 2024 Republican presidential caucuses. He also claimed credit for her 2018 victory, when she was first elected to office after succeeding former Republican Gov. Terry Branstad, who became Trump’s ambassador to China.

The ad follows a similar ad the PAC launched last week, which noted Reynolds’ conservative accomplishments and said Trump is “cutting her out of campaign events and taking credit for her success.”

The PAC is spending an additional $180,000 on the most recent ad push, which includes the new ad and additional airtime for the first ad in the Cedar Rapids and Des Moines markets, a spokesperson for Republican Accountability PAC said. The PAC initially spent $115,000 to air the first ad.

The PAC was launched in 2020 to encourage Republicans to support President Joe Biden over Trump, and now is launching an advertising campaign to turn Republicans away from Trump in the primary.

“Donald Trump is counting on Republican voters to support him no matter how much he insults other elected officials that they like,” said Sarah Longwell, the PAC’s president and treasurer, in a news release. “We’re reminding Iowans that they have other options instead of supporting the twice-impeached, twice-indicted, disgraced former president who looks down on their leaders.”

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum reaches donor threshold for first Republican presidential debate

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North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum announced Wednesday he had passed the donor threshold to qualify for the first Republican presidential primary debate, receiving 40,000 individual donations, including 200 from 20 different states.

Burgum, who announced his bid for the presidency in June, has yet to reach the polling threshold to qualify for the debates. Those rules require a candidate to carry at least 1 percent of support in three separate national polls, or two national polls and two early state polls.

In a poll by the University of New Hampshire released Wednesday, Burgum took 6 percent of support. Recent national polls, however, show him with less than 1 percent.

Other candidates that have met the donor threshold include former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and South Carolina U.S. Sen Tim Scott. All have also placed above 1 percent in two recent national polls.