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GOP Super PAC Ad Hits California’s Katie Porter on Health Care

CLF has reserved nearly $3 million in air time in 45th District

Democrat Katie Porter is challenging GOP Rep. Mimi Walters in California’s 45th District. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Democrat Katie Porter is challenging GOP Rep. Mimi Walters in California’s 45th District. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)

The Congressional Leadership Fund is launching a new ad aimed at Democrat Katie Porter in California’s 45th District — this time targeting her on health care. 

Porter is challenging two-term Republican Rep. Mimi Walters in the Orange County district, which Hillary Clinton carried by 5 points in 2016. Democrats are hoping to repeat Clinton’s success in this part of Southern California, which has traditionally been a conservative stronghold. 

CLF, a super PAC aligned with House GOP leadership, has reserved nearly $2.9 million in air time in the pricey Los Angeles media market, a sign the group views the race as competitive.

The latest television ad, shared first with Roll Call, is part of that larger ad buy and will run for two weeks on Los Angeles cable. It features a mother who says Porter’s health care positions would prove too costly for her family. 

The woman, identified as Cynthia Quimby, makes an apparent reference to Porter’s support for “Medicare-for-All” legislation, describing it as a “government takeover of health care.”

But in the ad, Quimby says the “worst part” was Porter’s desire “to eliminate employer-provided health insurance.”

The spot cites an NPR article from August 2017, in which Sen. Bernie Sanders was interviewed about his Medicare-for-All bill. The Vermont independent was asked if people who liked their current insurance could keep it, and he responded, “No, if you have a Medicare for all, there’ll be one insurance company in America.“ 

Asked if his bill meant other insurance plans would go away, Sanders said, “Yes, that’s right.“ 

Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rates the race Leans Republican.

Watch: House Ratings Change in Favor of Democrats

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