As the undisputed driver of the news cycle a year ago, at the time of its troubled rollout, Obamacare was widely expected to be the defining issue of the 2014 midterms.
But the health-care law that delivered the Democrats their disastrous 2010 “shellacking” (as the president put it) has, many have argued, been overshadowed by more pressing issues from the Islamic State to immigration and Ebola, or become less potent as Americans get used to the law.
But the Affordable Care Act has still featured prominently in many races, almost always in a negative light. Here are ten of the (many, many) anti-Obamacare ads that appeared in House and Senate races this year. (All of the spots below were financed by the candidates themselves rather than by outside groups.)
“Let’s Do Some Damage”
Will Brooke (R., Ala.)
The Tennessee Republican wore his long-time effort against the ACA as a badge of honor as he faced a summer primary challenge that never really took off, and in this July TV spot he recalled on camera his confrontation with President Obama in February 2010 over whether premiums would increase under the law. “Lamar was proven right,” a narrator says. Tennessee voters seem to agree: Alexander has an 18-point lead over his Democratic challenger, Gordon Ball.
— Brendan Bordelon is an editorial associate at National Review Online.