Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster
Americans for Prosperity-Florida is launching a direct mail campaign attacking Rep. Patrick Murphy.
The conservative organization announced Monday it launched a statewide campaign opposing Murphy in Florida’s U.S. Senate race. The direct mail campaign comes just one week after AFP-Florida unveiled a digital ad targeting the Treasure Coast Democrat over his support of the Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare, the farm bill, and the export-import bank.
The mailer focuses on what AFP-Florida calls Murphy’s “’pay more’ energy agenda,” which it says “threatens to make life more expensive.”
“Patrick Murphy is more concerned with standing behind President Obama’s job-killing, rate-hiking energy mandates than acknowledging the tough realities Florida families are facing every day trying to make ends meet,” said Chris Hudson, the state director of AFP-Florida, in a statement. “Murphy’s ‘pay-more’ energy agenda could cost Florida thousands of energy jobs and force hardworking families to pay another $500 per year on their utilities.”
This isn’t the first time Murphy has been hit over energy costs. In 2015, the National Republican Senatorial Committee criticized Murphy for his vote against the Ratepayer Protection Act. That measure, according to U.S. House documents, could lead to an increase in energy costs for Florida families.
That bill passed the House largely along party lines, with Democrats voting against it.
Murphy faces Sen. Marco Rubio in the November general election. It’s one of the most-watched races in the nation, and could be critical to control of the Senate.
A recent Quinnipiac University poll found Rubio is in the lead with 50 percent, while Murphy has 43 percent. A Public Policy Polling survey just days earlier showed a much-closer race. In that poll, Rubio was at 40 percent, while Murphy was at 37 percent.
