In Freedom Club running internet ad for Munson, we wondered whether an online ad that showed up in one of the Lake Crystal New Republican state representative's constituent was an independent expenditure by the west metro conservative organization's state-level political action committee.
Apparently not. The reader got back to us with the link underneath the graphic, and it's to a page that asks readers to "Stand with Jeremy Munson Sign this petition and give support to Senator Anderson."
We've posted a screenshot at the top of the post. Tweaking the URL a slight bit, we discover that the Senator Anderson is Paul Anderson of Senate District 44.
Here's a screengrab of the top of that landing page:
Anderson in his turn was one of the targets of whom J. Patrick Coolican wrote in April's Democrats launch ad campaign against GOP state senators, but will it work?:
Pay attention to the targets: Sens. Jerry Relph of St. Cloud; David Senjem and Carla Nelson, both of Rochester; Warren Limmer of Maple Grove; Karin Housley of the Stillwater area; Paul Anderson of Plymouth; and Dan Hall of Burnsville.
These are all vulnerable Republicans in districts where a Democrat holds at least one of the House seats. (A Senate district comprises two House seats.)
The two House districts in MN44 are held by first-term representative Ginny Klevorn (44A, DFL) and Patty Acomb (44B, DFL). Klevorn defeated Republican Sarah Anderson, while Acomb captured the open seat created by the retirement of DFLer Jon Applebaum.
According to a MinnPost article on spending in Minnesota state House race in 2018, the Klevorn district:
The most expensive House race was for 44A, the suburban Plymouth seat that saw DFLer Ginny Klevorn unseat Sarah Anderson, a longtime state rep who had withstood tough elections for Republicans in the past.
Outside groups spent more than half a million in the race: $304,000 to help Anderson and $255,000 to help Klevorn. . . .
Like most of the Minnesota Senate, Anderson wasn't on the ballot last November, but the Freedom Club did spend big to get him into office in 2016. In February 2017, Brian Bakst reported at MPR in Fight for Minnesota Legislature was spendy:
The three contests to exceed $1 million — unheard of not long ago — were: Sen. Paul Anderson’s victory over DFLer Deb Calvert for an open Minnetonka-area seat ($1,089,770) . . .
On the Medium platform, "Xenocrypt" outlined the money spent by outside groups:
Republican groups (mostly the “Freedom Club State PAC” and “Pro Jobs Majority”) spent $298,089.82 in itemized independent expenditures over $100 for Anderson or against Calvert while Anderson himself spent $84,784.62. That’s a lot of money, but Democratic groups (mostly the “Alliance for a Better Minnesota Action Fund” along with the official state party committee and others) spent some $400,571.87 while Calvert herself spent $67,015.71.
By starting now in Jeremy Munson's district--reaching out to engaged souls like our source--the Freedom Club can build Anderson's base in Minnetonka and Plymouth. Indeed, given the dual domicile of our source's own senator in SD23, we can think of no better place for this name recognition through weak ad copy-editing to begin.
Screengrabs: From the Freedom Club ad landing pads. Someone get paid to proofread that copy for the Munson version. Apparently, the Anderson version came first. The group is completely ahead of the curve for 2020 in the suburban district.
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