A major Democratic group is trolling Republicans who skipped the RNC with fake 'texts from Trump'

Maxwell Tani

Jul 20, 2016, 23:03 IST

A major group backing Democratic candidates isn't letting Republican members of Congress off the hook for skipping the Republican National Convention.

Emily's List, a major political group that backs female Democratic pro-choice candidates, rolled out a new digital campaign on Wednesday, called "#TextsFromTrump," aimed at reminding voters that while many Republican candidates aren't attending Trump's convention, they share some of Trump's policy views.

A reference to the famous "Texts from Hillary" meme, the fake texts - the first of several batches the group will release - detail areas like raising the minimum wage and opposing equal page legislation where Trump is on the same page with candidates like Sen. John McCain, Kelly Ayotte, and Sen. Mark Kirk.

"Vulnerable Republican incumbents might try to run as far away as they can from Trump's convention, but they can't hide from their own party's dangerous agenda," said Marcy Stech, the organization's vice president of communications.

"While they may not be sharing the stage with Donald Trump, they share the same agenda: Banning abortion, ignoring equal pay and marginalizing women."

Many Republican candidates up for reelection in battleground states and districts have attempted to distance themselves from the Republican presidential nominee.

McCain offered his support for Trump, but has called on the real-estate magnate to apologize to veterans for his controversial comments about prisoners of war. Ayotte said earlier this year that she would "support" but not explicitly endorse Trump. Kirk outright refused to endorse Trump, saying that he will instead write-in former CIA director David Petraeus, who garnered bipartisan praise for creating the successful 20o7 troop surge in Iraq, but resigned after leaking classified information to his biographer.

Emily's List and other Democratic groups have focused much of their down-ballot campaign strategy on tying the incumbent Republican candidates to Trump.

The "Texts from Trump" are a part of a major $20 million joint effort between Emily's List and Clinton-aligned super PAC Priorities USA to mobilize millennial female voters.

Last week, the millennial-focused program kicked off with a $1.5 million digital ad buy in nine battleground states promoting a series of videos that highlight some of Trump's inflammatory statements about women and minorities.

Read some of the sample texts below: