New $1 Million Ad Push Targets Democrats Who Backed Trump Judges

A progressive advocacy group is spending over $1 million to expand its offensive against Senate Democrats who vote to confirm President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees.

The new ad campaign from Demand Justice targets Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, and Angus King (I-Maine), a Democratic caucus member.

Broadcast, cable, and digital ads will run in each state for a week, along with a national ad against all 15 Democratic caucus members who’ve voted to confirm at least one Trump nominee who has declined to say definitively who won the 2020 presidential election.

Nominees have typically responded to questions on the election winner by stating that Joe Biden was certified as the winner, but none have said that Biden won or that Trump lost. Democrats and progressives view this response as a loyalty test that Trump nominees must pass to secure an appointment.

Demand Justice President Josh Orton said the nominees’ unwillingness to say that Biden won the election is “fundamentally disqualifying for a federal judge who may see cases about election interference or a revenge prosecution, or any number of things where their perceived allegiance to Trump would represent a massive conflict of interest.”

He added that any Democratic caucus member who votes to confirm Trump’s nominees is enabling “Trump’s attack on the rule of law, the judiciary, and democracy.”

The announcement comes just a day after Hassan, Fetterman, King, and six other Democrats voted to confirm Lindsey Freeman to the US District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.

That group also includes lawmakers Demand Justice already ran ads against, including the Senate Judiciary Committee’s top Democrat, Dick Durbin of Illinois; and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island. Ads also have targeted Chris Coons of Delaware and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. All four are Judiciary panel members.

Orton noted that Hassan, Fetterman, King aren’t up for reelection in 2026, so electoral consequences aren’t immediate for them. But the group also hopes to capitalize on existing outrage against the senators, who were among the eight Democratic caucus members who broke rank to advance a deal to reopen the federal government in November. The group will also consider senators up for reelection next year if Democrats don’t budge.

“I’m not trying to burn down the house on the first go here,” Orton said on their decision to target out-of-cycle senators.

“I sort of consider this a hip check, because I will actually want behavior to change. Because I do not want three, four years of essentially politically compromised Trump judges sitting on benches across the country with bipartisan credibility,” he added.