Liberal super PAC uses social media influencers to target Michigan’s anti-abortion Republicans ahead of midterm election

A liberal super PAC is organizing social media influencers to connect with women voters in Michigan ahead of an election that could determine the future of abortion rights in the state.

The program is part of Bridge to Democracy, an organization founded earlier this year as a project of the American Bridge 21st Century. The group had an initial budget of at least $10 million to target Republican election deniers running for key state and local offices, CNN reported. They found through studies of women’s media habits that female voters exhibited higher levels of trust for their favorite nonpolitical influencers than for traditional news sources.

To reach these voters, Bridge to Democracy’s paid media influencer program recruits popular, non-political Instagram and TikTok creators to encourage their followers to hold Republicans accountable at the ballot box, targeting anti-abortion candidates like GOP gubernatorial nominee Tudor Dixon. 

The contest between Dixon and Michigan’s Democratic incumbent Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is considered one of the most significant races this November, and abortion has been a central talking point for both candidates. Dixon is staunchly anti-abortion, saying in July that a hypothetical 14-year-old incestual rape survivor would be a “perfect example” of someone who should carry a pregnancy to term.

One of the Instagram creators, Farrah Davidson (@londonhadalittlelamb), tells her followers to research where their candidates stand on Proposal 3, a ballot measure which would enshrine the right to abortion in Michigan’s constitution. Michigan’s 1931 law prohibits all abortions with no exceptions for rape, incest, or health of the pregnant patient, but the ballot measure would explicitly establish a right to abortion in the state’s constitution. 

“It will be a very close race, and every vote will count,” Davison states in her Instagram reel. “I’ll see you at the polls.”

 

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Other influencers making this type of content include Amber Battishill (@mommygonehealthy) and Anna Przy (@akprzy), all of whom have between 20K and 300K followers on Instagram, many of them based in Michigan.

 

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These influencers did not respond to requests for comment by publication time.

Michigan is just the latest state American Bridge has amped up their efforts in. The group previously mobilized content creators in key swing states like Arizona, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Nevada to brandish support for President Joe Biden’s economic agenda, recruiting former ABC Bachelorette Contestants to explain the impacts of Biden’s American Rescue Plan and bipartisan infrastructure law. 

After the Dobbs decision to overturn the constitutional right to abortion leaked in May, American Bridge expanded their program. In August, the organization invested over $200,000 toward mobilizing influencers in Kansas to advocate against a ballot initiative which could have put abortion rights at risk in the state.

 

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