An advocacy group founded by former Vice President Mike Pence launched a six-figure ad campaign Wednesday opposing President Trump’s nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
The ad campaign from Advancing American Freedom, details of which were shared first with The Hill, includes digital ads that will run through the next couple of weeks in the nation’s capital as Kennedy awaits his confirmation hearing.
The ad spend also includes a mobile billboard that will travel around Capitol Hill and the March for Life, an annual anti-abortion event that will take place Friday on the National Mall.
The ads highlight various controversial comments Kennedy has made.
One references his past comments supporting abortion access throughout pregnancy. Another cites misinformation he shared about vaccines amid a measles outbreak in American Samoa. A third refers to past comments he made claiming the polio vaccine was linked to cancer. And another ad notes that Kennedy has argued vaccines cause autism.
The ads also feature a website address that directs viewers to a group the letter wrote urging senators to oppose Kennedy’s nomination.
Kennedy has yet to have a confirmation hearing scheduled. His nomination has come under scrutiny largely because of his anti-vaccine rhetoric. Thousands of doctors and public health officials have signed onto letters expressing concerns about Kennedy.
But some senators have expressed support to his push to get chemicals out of food and to reduce chronic disease across the country, which has been wrapped in the slogan “Make America Healthy Again.”
Kennedy has been on Capitol Hill in recent weeks holding meetings with dozens of senators. No Senate Republican has publicly said they will vote against the nomination, and Kennedy can afford to lose three GOP votes if every Democrat opposes him.
The ad campaign marks an escalation of efforts by Advancing American Freedom to oppose Kennedy’s nomination to serve as secretary of Health and Human Services.
Shortly after Trump announced Kennedy’s nomination, Pence in a statement urged senators to reject him because of his previous support for abortion.
The organization last week sent a letter to senators urging them to vote against confirming Kennedy because of his previous support for abortion.
“While RFK Jr. has made certain overtures to pro-life leaders that he would be mindful of their concerns at HHS, there is little reason for confidence at this time,” the group’s leaders wrote.
Kennedy has tried to reassure Republicans by saying his personal views don’t matter, and that he will implement all of the anti-abortion policies from the first Trump administration.
Trump has repeatedly argued the issue of abortion law should be determined by individual states, criticizing certain restrictive laws as too harsh. At the same time, he has taken credit for nominating three Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Pence has been outspoken for decades about his opposition to abortion, and he has been publicly critical of Trump for what he called a “retreat on the Right to Life.”
