Democrat group betting on anti-ICE fear in new campaign ad targeting young men

Fox News

4 hours ago

FIRST ON FOX: A fundraising group dedicated to helping Democrats flip Republican seats is releasing a dark new advertisement it hopes will help the left win over young men ahead of the 2026 races.
The Progress Action Fund has gained attention for its risqué viral ads featuring a fictional "Republican congressman" who invades private moments in bedrooms, bathrooms and hospitals to enforce so-called conservative policies, such as stopping sex, abortion or denying care to Medicare patients.
The new clip features a couple on a date, comprised of a White male with blonde hair, while the woman has darker skin and black hair.
"I had a really good time today," the man says in the video. The woman begins to respond, "I did too," before they are both forcefully restrained by masked agents, and the woman is dragged away.
A voice says off-screen as the couple is being dragged apart, "She's coming with us."
"What are you talking about? Who are you?" the man yells.
Then, an older White man with white hair steps onto the screen, "I'm your Republican congressman. Now that we're in charge, we're rounding up illegals."
The man yells as the woman continues to shriek, "She was born here, she's a citizen."
"I don't care. She looks like one of them," the "Republican congressman" responds. "But don't worry, when she's in prison in El Salvador, she'll have lots of company."
The ad ends with a reference to President Donald Trump speaking to El Salvadorian President Nayyib Bukele at the White House earlier this year, suggesting he was open to sending "homegrown" criminals to the foreign country's prisons alongside non-American deportees.
Joe Jacobson, an Obama administration alumnus who founded and runs Progress Action Fund, told Fox News Digital that his PAC's testing shows the ad will be potent with young men.
"We found that after seeing the ad, young men – you know, I'm 31 and our target demo is to win back young men in 2026 after they flipped to Trump by 30 points – and what we found is that it moves the needle for Democrats, making young men under 30 support Democrats and view them favorably, by about four points," Jacobson said in an interview.
"And that's not that's not easy, given the Democratic Party hasn't found a message for young men, and reaching them and engaging them."
Republicans and the White House dismissed the ad as "fear-mongering."
Democrats have been wrestling to find a cohesive message to voters after the 2024 election – particularly young men, who narrowly went to Trump after former President Joe Biden won the demographic in 2020.
However, Jacobson said ads that set tones line Progress Action Fund's latest clip would be potent.
"If you're a young man, and you're dating or looking for a girlfriend, the last thing you want is for, you know, secret police, ICE agents coming in and taking away your girlfriend that's an American citizen just because she looks a Latino person or whoever the ICE officials are racially profiling," Jacobson said.
He pointed out that immigration has been a key issue for Republican platforms for years – and said this time, Democrats would seize that momentum given Trump's harsh policies.
"This has always been an issue, and Donald Trump has weaponized immigration even more. And, you know, he has some mandate. He told people that he wanted to deport criminals who are breaking the law, violent criminals, who are immigrants, and people are down for that. Democrats are down for that, too," Jacobson said.
"But he does not have a mandate for deporting people who are, you know, working at hotels, on farms or auto shops."
It comes amid protests across multiple Democratic cities against Trump's Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) crackdown.
However, immigration and border security proved potent issues for Republicans across the country in 2024, as cities beyond the U.S.-Mexico border felt strain that the GOP has blamed on Biden administration border policies.
It forced top Democratic officials to pivot toward more conservative stances on illegal immigrant criminals and illegal immigration in general.
However, the Progressive Action Fund is betting on Trump's response benefiting the left ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Jacobson said his group's investment in the ad was in the "mid-six-figure range" and that it would hit social media first, before getting more targeted placement in swing states and districts.
Both the National Republican Congressional Committee and the White House panned the ad when reached for comment.
"Democrats have completely lost the plot if they think a creepy, incoherent ad like this is going to win over young voters. Not a single person is falling for this pathetic, fear-mongering nonsense," NRCC spokesman Mike Marinella said.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital, "It would be more efficient for Democrats to just light their money on fire instead of spending it fear-mongering with a silly ad no one takes seriously. This is clearly just a sad attempt to distract from the violent Democrat rioters in LA who want to keep criminal illegal aliens in American communities."