Two pro-Hilary Clinton groups will be joining forces to launch a multi-million dollar campaign in hopes of energizing young female voters to vote against Republican "extremism" in the 2016 presidential election.
Priorities USA, the biggest independent expenditure super PAC backing Hillary Clinton’s presidential run, will be working alongside Emily’s List’s Madam President project in kicking off a "war on women" themed campaign intended to push female voters away from supporting the eventual Republican candidate in the general election.
The groups hope to raise at least $20 million to pump into the campaign to paint the Republican presidential field as wanting to interfere with women’s access to health care along with opposing fair pay. The groups will utilize targeted paid media and voter contact efforts in key battleground states throughout the 2016 election cycle.
"This election cycle, all 2016 Republican candidates for president have pledged to block access to healthcare, oppose equal pay and fair wages for women in the workplace, and have worked to restrict access to the ballot box," a statement emailed to the Washington Free Beacon by Priorities USA read.
"The entire Republican field is a case study in extremism, and we must fight back against their agenda that would marginalize opportunities for women of every race, age, and economic background," said Guy Cecil, co-chair of Priorities USA. "We are proud to stand with EMILY’s List in support of Hillary Clinton, and we are excited to work together to help elect our country’s first woman president."
The Emily’s List president Stephanie Schriock said women voters are the key to Democrats winning in 2016 and stated every woman’s rights and freedoms are on the "chopping block."
"Women voters are the key to winning the 2016 elections, for Hillary Clinton and for Democrats up and down the ballot," Schriock said. "We are thrilled to be joining forces with Priorities to make sure every woman in this country understands that with a Republican in the White House, our rights, freedoms and opportunities will be on the chopping block."
However, despite the efforts, their message could be undercut by Hillary’s own past actions.
A Free Beacon analysis found that as Hillary Clinton was serving as a senator from New York, she paid her female staffers 72 cents for every dollar a male staffer made.
"During those years, the median annual salary for a woman working in Clinton’s office was $15,708.38 less than the median salary for a man, according to the analysis of data compiled from official Senate expenditure reports," the Free Beacon noted in its analysis of data compiled from annual salaries paid to Clinton staffers from 2002 to 2008. "The salaries speak for themselves. The data shows that women in her office were paid 72 cents for every dollar paid to men."
A separate Free Beacon analysis of Clinton's campaign staff similarly found that women were being paid less than men.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) expanded upon this notion, adding that the Clinton Foundation accepted contributions from foreign countries that do not respect the rights of women.
"Hillary Clinton has a habit of contradicting pro-women words with anti-women actions," Allison Moore, the national press secretary for the RNC, told the Free Beacon in a statement. "Not only did Clinton pay women less in her own Senate office, but her foundation gladly accepts money from foreign countries that don’t respect women’s rights."