Washington — A conservative group is launching a $1.3 million ad campaign to promote Republicans and criticize Democrats in two key Michigan U.S. House districts.
The American Action Network, a sister organization to House Republicans' dedicated super PAC, will begin airing video ads on Aug. 20, supporting incumbent GOP Rep. Tom Barrett in Michigan's 7th District and opposing Democratic Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet in the 8th District.
The ads are an early influx of outside money in the mid-Michigan districts, anchored respectively by Lansing and Flint, as political groups pivot from the Aug. 4 primary elections to the upcoming general election.
The 30-second spot supporting Barrett of Charlotte features individuals from Williamston in Ingham County praising the lawmaker for "working hard for us, voting for real tax cuts for families like mine and standing up to the radical ideas from the left."
The ad references Barrett's vote in support of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Republicans' massive tax cut and spending bill signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4, 2025.
That legislation permanently extended a series of tax cuts that were set to expire and established new tax cuts on tips and overtime pay. It also added new work requirements for Medicaid and cut federal food assistance benefits, among other major policy shakeups. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated the bill would expand the federal budget deficit by up to $4.7 trillion.
Barrett is set to face Democrat Will Lawrence of Lansing in November. Lawrence, a progressive, overcame a significant fundraising and outside spending advantage from opponents to beat two moderate candidates in the August primary.
He did, however, get about $1.7 million in outside backing from a GOP-aligned group called Michigan Sunrise PAC that sought to boost his candidacy. The group saw Lawrence as a comparatively easier foe for Barrett.
In the 8th District, the American Action Network ad similarly focuses on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, criticizing McDonald Rivet for opposing Republicans' signature piece of legislation of the past two years.
"She claims to be a champion for the middle class, fighting for Michigan families," a narrator says. "But Kristen McDonald Rivet's votes tell a different story. Tax cuts on tips and overtime? McDonald Rivet voted no. Tax relief for seniors? She voted no, all while voting to allow taxpayer-funded sex changes for children."
The claim regarding sex changes is a reference to the Bay City lawmaker's no vote on a prior version of the act that would have banned federal health programs from supporting gender transition care for minors.
McDonald Rivet's November opponent is Thomas Smith of Flint, who scored a surprise victory over a Trump-backed foe despite suspending his campaign in the GOP primary weeks before Election Day.
Both incumbents discussed in the ads, the Republican Barrett and the Democrat McDonald Rivet, had multi-million-dollar fundraising advantages over their general election opponents as of their July 15 federal campaign finance disclosures.
The American Action Network declined to disclose the breakdown of how much money it would spend in Barrett's 7th District versus McDonald Rivet's 8th. The group said in an email that the ads are part of a "national broadcast, digital and mail advertising campaign."
That $22 million campaign will also support U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga of Holland, who represents a swath of the west Michigan lakeshore in the state's 4th District.
The spending will go toward so-called issue ads that educate voters about lawmakers' positions on a bill and are therefore exempt from Federal Election Commission rules about outside spending disclosures.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Conservative group launches $1.3M ad campaign for mid-Michigan races