Gun safety group starts big Texas ad campaign

WASHINGTON — Gun safety groups planning to spend millions to turn Texas blue this year are rolling out their first round of ads, which say COVID-19 isn’t the only public health crisis facing the state.

Everytown for Gun Safety, the Michael Bloomberg-backed group that plans to spend $8 million in Texas this year, is launching $250,000 in digital ads targeting Republicans including Houstonarea U.S. Reps. Dan Crenshaw and Michael McCaul, as well as Central Texas U.S. Rep. Chip Roy.

The group shared the plan exclusively with Hearst Newspapers. It includes ads targeting Central Texas U.S. Rep. John Carter and Beth Van Duyne, a former mayor

of Irving running for a Dallasarea congressional seat. The ads say the Republicans “ignored our safety” by opposing universal background checks and other gun laws.

The effort follows a successful bid last year to help Democrats win control of the Virginia statehouse for the first time in 26 years. Everytown and other gun safety groups plastered ads online and on TV similar to those they're rolling out now in Texas. But the group plans to spend three times what it spent in Virginia on Texas races.

Everytown isn’t alone in targeting Texas, the top target in 2020 for groups pushing for more restrictive gun laws. BradyPAC, the political affiliate of one of the country’s oldest gun violence prevention groups, plans to spend more than $500,000 on elections in the state, more than it’s spending anywhere in the nation by far.

Texas gun rights groups are also stepping up fundraising, warning supporters that they need to help defend 20 seats in the Texas House this fall.