Democrats turn Iran war votes into a flood of cost-of-living attack ads before the midterms

With just over two weeks until Election Day, Democrats and their allies are turning one issue into a common thread across the country's closest races: how Republicans voted on the war with Iran and what it has done to family budgets.

Thousands of airings

A review of ad-tracking data for broadcast and cable spots that ran from Sept. 1 through Oct. 14 in 50 competitive House and Senate contests found Iran-themed ads in at least half of them. Those ads have aired more than 43,000 times at an estimated cost of about $42 million. Of 65 distinct Iran ads, 61 tie the war to higher prices for gas, groceries, utilities or medicine.

In Wisconsin, an ad says Rep. Derrick Van Orden backed the costly war as prices spiked. In Nebraska, Democrat Chris Backemeyer says Rep. Mike Flood voted six times for tariffs and the war at a cost of about $1,000 a year per family. In Iowa a veterans group says Senate hopeful Ashley Hinson voted five times for the war.

Some targets have never served in Congress. Democrats still cast them as likely rubber stamps for the White House on the war.

Where the votes came from

The ads grow out of a plan Democrats launched in the spring when they began forcing votes on war powers resolutions to end the conflict, which began in late February. The Senate has voted 14 times and the House six times. The measures did little in practice but every lawmaker had to go on record.

In the most recent House vote seven Republicans joined Democrats. Four of them face tough races this fall: Tom Barrett of Michigan, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania plus Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Zach Nunn of Iowa.

The hottest districts

No race leans on the issue more than California's 48th District near San Diego, where about a third of roughly 12,000 ads mention Iran. Democrat Marni von Wilpert keeps replaying Republican Jim Desmond's early remark that the war's price spike was a case of no pain, no gain. Desmond and House Republicans answer with an ad on her record on taxes and fees while saying he wants to suspend the gas tax.

About a quarter of the ads in Virginia's 2nd District and Maine's open 2nd District also raise the war. In Ohio some 4,000 Iran ads have run, nearly all from Democrat Sherrod Brown.

Republicans change the subject

Republican ads focus mostly on taxes and crime, then character, health care and immigration. GOP strategist Ron Bonjean said the war is Democratic turf and the better play is to argue that the other candidate is worse.

A few Republicans are putting distance between themselves and the war off the air. Michigan Senate candidate Mike Rogers says it needs to end quickly. In Maine, Sen. Susan Collins says she voted nine times to stop it while Democrat Troy Jackson counters that she voted five times to let it go on.

Iran spots still make up only about 5 percent of the ads in these races, but in the tightest contests the issue keeps coming back.