CatholicVote dumps $2 million into blocking Catholic Dems from office: 'Clearing out the trash'

CatholicVote is dropping $2 million in ad spending in an effort to block Catholic Democratic candidates from gaining office, the prominent Catholic political group announced Thursday.

The ad-buy will last through the final 10 days of campaigning before the Nov. 8 midterm elections, targeting Democratic Senate candidates in Nevada, Arizona and Ohio. The candidates there, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Mark Kelly of Arizona and Tim Ryan of Ohio, are all avowed Catholics, though they reject the church's teachings on abortion and other issues. The ads are also targeting five Democrats in the House of Representatives.

The ads, coming in both English and Spanish versions, focus on parental rights, gender transitioning and abortions for minors, CV President Brian Burch told Fox News Digital.

"The Senate races are all Catholic-versus-Catholic," Burch said. "Part of this is wanting to secure parental rights over gender transitions and abortions for minors, but part of it is also about clearing out the trash of so-called Catholics who violate core, fundamental church teachings."

While conventional political wisdom says the abortion issue is a weak one for Republicans this election cycle, Burch argues candidates have found success going on the offensive. He argues that while independent voters may have their own views on abortion, they agree that parents should be the main decision-makers when it comes to their children.

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Catholic Democrats have faced increased scrutiny in the midterms thanks largely to the prominence of President Biden, another avowed Catholic who rejects church teachings on abortion. U.S. clergy debated over the propriety of offering communion to Biden and other pro-abortion Democrats in 2021, though bishops ultimately chose not to enact a rule.

Bishop Robert Barron pushed back on Biden in August, acknowledging that the president "does feel his faith" but calling his stance on abortion "repugnant."

"What bothers me about Biden — I don't doubt he's a serious Catholic at all. And I think he does feel his faith. I think he practices faith," the bishop told Fox News Digital in August. "But on this issue, what he's doing is repugnant. Because he's not just barely tolerating abortion — saying let's try to set some limits to it. He's aggressively trying to expand access to it."

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CatholicVote last waded into advertising in August with a spot calling out Biden and other national Democrats for ignoring attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers and churches in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling overturning Roe v. Wade.

The ad drew a contrast between America’s first Catholic president, John F. Kennedy, who vocally condemned the burning of churches in the 1960s and "pledged justice" for the offenders, and the second Catholic president in the nation’s history, Joe Biden, whom the ad depicted as encouraging violent protesters to "keep protesting, keep making your point."

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While the Biden DOJ has pursued aggressive charges against pro-life protesters in the months since Roe fell, Attorney General Merrick Garland and the FBI have taken no action in at least 17 instances of attacks on pro-life centers by the radical abortion group Jane's Revenge.

Brianna Herlihy contributed to this report.