Ad Buy Begins Airing on the Anniversary of the January 6 Insurrection
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Defend American Democracy (DAD), a bipartisan veterans campaign committed to holding Congress accountable to their sworn oath, worked with leading coalition member and veterans group Common Defense to launch a seven-figure TV ad campaign urging Sen. Sinema to protect the right to vote. Titled “Step Up,” the campaign features Arizona veteran David Lucier, a former advisor to Senator Sinema who recently resigned from her veteran’s council. The ad, which begins airing nationally and locally in Arizona starting on January 6, calls out Sen. Sinema’s skipped January 6 insurrection commission vote and urges her to now do her duty and protect democracy.
View the ad “Step Up” here.
“Senator Sinema did not show up to hold insurrectionists accountable, but she must show up for our voting rights,” said David Lucier, a former U.S. Army Sergeant who is featured in the ad. “I pledged to serve my country, and so did Sen. Sinema. It is time that she upholds her promises to Arizonans and eliminates the filibuster to pass voting rights legislation that will protect the sanctity of our elections –– and the sanctity of our democracy –– for years to come.”
“The right to vote is a sacred tenet of our democracy that generations of veterans have fought to protect,” said Chad Flannery, US Navy Corpsman, Iraq War Veteran and Arizona-based member of Common Defense. “Sen. Sinema can no longer stand by as our voting rights are attacked in Arizona and across the country. It is time for action –– it is time for Sen. Sinema to put the good of the American people and our democracy above the filibuster.”
The ad comes after Sen. Schumer issued a Dear Colleague letter urgently calling for voting rights legislation ahead of the Jan. 6 insurrection anniversary. In the letter, Sen. Schumer announced that the Senate will debate and consider Senate rules reform on or before Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend, when veterans and hundreds of Arizona constituents will mobilize with Martin Luther King III, Arndrea Waters King, and other voting rights organizers in Phoenix, AZ to demand voting rights action.
The ad script for “Step Up” is below:
I’m a combat veteran. I swore to defend freedom and democracy.
So when I see my Senator turn her back on the values I pledged to die for, it makes me pretty angry.
Senator Sinema took an oath too. But refusing to protect the right to vote undermines everything she swore to defend.
Skipping the vote to hold insurrectionists accountable betrayed the people she promised to serve.
Senator Sinema, Do your duty. Protect our democracy.
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