GOP group launches billboards demanding Cruz and Hawley resign

Former Republican officials say senators and others ‘pushed this lie, which incited the attack on the Capitol’

GOP campaigners have called on senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley to resign through billboards that condemn them for supporting claims the 2020 election was “stolen”.  

The billboard campaign, which launched on Thursday, targets 10 other Republicans who also rejected Joe Biden’s presidential election win when Congress voted on 6 January – hours after they came under attack by Donald Trump’s supporters with claims the election was “rigged”.

About $1 million (£729,000) has been spent on the billboard campaign, Politico reported, which has been set-up by the Republican Accountability Project (RAP), a group of former GOP officials who formed together in the days after the Capitol riot.

RAP has already committed to spend $50 million (£36 million) supporting GOP members of Congress who voted to impeach Mr Trump on 13 January, as well as senators who vote to convict him for “incitement of insurrection”.

That vote will follow a second impeachment trial in the Senate, which is set to begin on 8 February despite recent calls by Mr Cruz to “move on”.

One billboard by RAP says that Mr Cruz "lied about the election. The Capitol was attacked. Sen. Cruz: Resign.” It is due to appear in his Texas constituency, with billboards also planned in major US cities.

Other Republicans targeted by the campaign include the House minority leader Kevin McCarthy, who met with Mr Trump in recent days, as well as a number of House Republicans who voted against the election results and Mr Trump’s impeachment.

Sarah Longwell, executive director of the Republican Accountability Project, told Politico that those targeted by the billboards are “people who are the most enthusiastic about lying to their constituencies about the election being stolen”.

“The goal is to not allow these officials to memory-hole the fact that they pushed this lie, which incited the attack on the Capitol,” said Ms Longwell.

“It took a lot of players within the Republican party to convince the vast majority of their voters that the election was fraudulent,” she added.

House members Devin Nunes, Matt Gaetz, and Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has come under scrutiny for supporting QAnon and other conspiracies in recent days, are also on the RAP billboards.