Campaign for American Principles, a PAC connected to American Principles Project, dropped its second ad in Kentucky’s gubernatorial race between Republican incumbent Governor Matt Bevin and his Democratic challenger, Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear.
The messaging is useful for Republican candidates in swing districts and statewide races in states like Kentucky. It focuses on a hugely unpopular aspect of sexual orientation and gender identity laws that bring disparity to women’s sports.
Beshear has said he supports “equality” for LGBT persons. “Equality” typically comes in the form of sexual orientation and gender identity accommodation laws. These are laws that allow biological men who identify as transgender into women’s restrooms, locker rooms, shelters, and even sports. The impact on women’s sports is a consequence of SOGI laws that have been particularly hurtful to women.
Campaign for American Principles spent $250,000 for their first digital ad in this race that micro-targets 400,000 democratic and independent voters. This second ad microtargeting the same voters will bring their total spending up to $450,000.
Campaign for American Principles’ executive director Terry Schilling pointed out the impact their data said the first ad made in the race in an email sent Tuesday morning. They polled a sample of 2000 of those voters before and 24 to 48 hours after they saw the ad.
He noted that the ad moved voters by up to 9 points towards Bevin.
The graph below shows the results of their polling. The gray bar is before those polled saw the ad, and the blue bar represents the same group after they watched the ad.
“Protecting women’s sports from Left-wing activists is proving to be a very powerful issue — which we plan to use in key races in 2020,” Schilling wrote.
Watch their second ad below:
Here’s the transcript:
All any athlete wants is a fair shot in competition.
To play by the rules.
To show how hard work pays off.
And how champions are made.
But what if the rules change?
If Andy Beshear gets his way, there won’t be any rules.
Anyone at any time could change teams for any reason.
Beshear calls this equality. But is it fair?
Vote against Andy Beshear. He’s too extreme for Kentucky.
Disclosure: This writer works with American Principles Project.