Skip to content

Everytown Launches More Than $800,000 in Digital Ads and Direct Mail to Flip Iowa House to a Gun Sense Majority

9.21.2020

Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund and Victory Fund Spending Roughly $400,000 on Digital Ads and $400,000 on Direct Mail Primarily Targeting Republicans in the Iowa State House for Their Inaction in the Face of Gun Violence 

Voter Research Shows Iowans support Stronger Gun Laws by a 3:1 Margin, and 75% of Voters Consider A Candidate’s Position On Guns “Very Important” To Their Vote In 2020

DES MOINES, Iowa – Today, Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund and Everytown for Gun Safety Victory Fund (together, “Everytown”) launched the first stage of $800,000 in digital ads and direct mail in order to elect a gun sense majority to the Iowa House. As part of the effort, Everytown will spend roughly $400,000 to run digital video, radio and static ads, and roughly $400,000 to send candidate-specific direct mailers to voters in eight state House districts. The digital ads and direct mailers will primarily highlight the failures of Republicans in the state legislature to address gun violence, and fight for the health and economic security of Iowa families. 

As part of this effort, Everytown will target the following Iowa House districts:

HD-09, HD-16, HD-37, HD-67, HD-82, HD-92, HD-94, HD-95

“For years now, Republican leaders in Iowa’s state House have chosen to put gun lobby interests ahead of public safety, but now the choice lies with the people,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “Everytown is going all out to help voters hold gun lobby lawmakers accountable for their refusal to pass common sense laws to keep our families safe.”

“Republicans in the state legislature weakened our gun laws and ignored our demands for common-sense gun laws once again,” said Katie Albrecht, volunteer with the Iowa chapter of Moms Demand Action. “Gun violence and the pandemic gets worse and worse in Iowa because Republicans are siding with the gun lobby and special interests over our safety, health, and security – and we’re going to make sure Iowa voters know it.”

WATCH “BACKED BY SPECIAL INTERESTS.” 

View a sample of the static ads here

View a sampling of the mail pieces below:

This year’s legislative session marked yet another year of inaction on gun violence when Iowa state lawmakers instead passed dangerous legislation that weakens existing gun safety laws.  January polling from Everytown found that the majority of voters in Iowa support stronger gun safety laws showing that:

  • Voters in Iowa support stronger gun laws by a 3:1 margin 
  • 75% of voters consider a candidate’s position on guns “very important” to their vote in 2020
  • A majority of voters, including 70% of Republican women, say they would never vote for a candidate who doesn’t support background checks on all gun sales, and opposing background checks on all gun sales was the most disqualifying candidate position among suburban women by a six-point margin
  • 75% of voters surveyed support enacting a red flag law, also known as an extreme risk law, including 93% of suburban women and 91% of undecided voters 

This year, Everytown for Gun Safety Victory Fund and Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund will spend $60 million on the 2020 elections, doubling what they spent during the 2018 elections.