Demand Justice targets Durbin, Coons over vote for Trump judicial nominees
Progressive group Demand Justice on Sunday announced a six-figure ad campaign targeting two Democratic senators for voting to advance judicial nominees who had equivocated about the results of the 2020 election.
Demand Justice, which has led liberal efforts to shape the federal judiciary, announced it would launch ads calling out Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) for their recent votes on two of President Trump’s judicial nominees.
“Sen. Durbin voted for a Trump judge who peddles Trump’s lies about the 2020 election and Jan. 6th. What is Sen. Durbin thinking?” the ad targeting Durbin reads.
The ad targeting Coons features the same language, while swapping in the Delaware senator’s name.
The ad campaign will feature digital billboards and banner ads, as well as traditional ads. The Durbin-focused ads will air in Chicago and Springfield, Ill., over the next week, while the Coons-focused ads will air in Delaware in Dover and Wilmington.
Durbin and Coons were among six Democrats who voted to advance Harold Mooty’s nomination earlier this month for the Northern District of Alabama.
Durbin and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) voted to advance Billy Wayne Lewis in Alabama.
In a questionnaire, Mooty was asked if Trump lost the 2020 election. Mooty responded that Joe Biden was certified as the 46th president, but said it would be “inappropriate” to comment on “the broader political or policy debate” around that election.
Asked if he denounced the “January 6 insurrection,” Mooty responded that he denounced all acts of violence against law enforcement, but that the events of Jan. 6 are “subject to ongoing political debate” so it would be inappropriate to comment.
Demand Justice said Lewis had also refused to “tell the truth” about the outcome of the 2020 election, equating it to a loyalty pledge to Trump.
President Biden won the 2020 election, but Trump has spent the years since pushing the false claim that it was rigged against him.
Durbin has announced he will not seek re-election when his term expires at the end of 2026. Coons is up for re-election in 2026 but has yet to announce his plans.
The ad campaign from Demand Justice underscores how there has been frustration among some Democrats that lawmakers in the party are not doing enough to fight back against the Trump administration.
Demand Justice last week announced Josh Orton, a former aide to former Vice President Harris, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), will serve as its new president.
Orton has stressed plans to hold Democrats accountable who do not adequately oppose Trump and his handling of the leal system, and he has said he will prioritize fostering grassroots opposition to Trump’s nomienes and attacks on the rule of law.