Leading Off
●MT-AL: After their close call with a first-round knockout in Tuesday's Georgia 6th District special election, national Republicans are sounding the alarms ahead of Montana's own May 25 special election for its lone House seat. The NRCC has added $1.2 million in TV ad reservations, while the House GOP-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund Super PAC is airing a new ad that attacks Democrat Rob Quist as part of an $800,000 buy. CLF tries to tie Quist to Nancy Pelosi, skewering him for wanting government-funded health care and supposedly supporting cuts to the defense budget, while they also hit him for his past debt troubles.
Campaign ActionMeanwhile, Republican Greg Gianforte released an ad that warns Quist wants a national gun registry "in a big government computer," which Gianforte claims could lead to "federal bureaucrats [grabbing] your guns." He then fires a shotgun at a computer monitor flashing the word "confiscate" and destroys it, promising he'll stand up for the 2nd Amendment.
Gianforte's spot and a recent NRCC ad are both hammering Quist over an earlier interview where Quist spoke favorably about registering assault weapons like one registers a car. In response, Quist himself previously debuted an ad on Thursday to tout his own support for the 2nd Amendment where he too shoots a TV screen displaying an attack ad.