Voters can expect to be bombarded in 2022 with TV campaign ads laden with video of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and Democratic messaging that ties Republicans to the riot.
The message, Democratic lawmakers say, will be that Republicans are the bad guys and Democrats are the “defenders of democracy.”
Democrats said the Capitol riot will be the centerpiece of their campaigns in a year that is expected to be bearish for the majority party.
“The defense of democracy is the central and overriding issue of the whole campaign,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, Maryland Democrat. “This is not just another issue. This is the whole context within which we have to examine what’s happening in America right now.”
Some Democrats worry, however, that nationalizing the midterms by invoking Jan. 6 will hurt the party’s already slim chances of retaining the majority.
“I know the party’s going to make it a big thing, and I really wish they wouldn’t,” said a House Democratic aide who didn’t want to be identified as a critic of the leadership’s campaign strategy. “I wish we focused more on kitchen table issues and less on issues that dominate cable news. I think smart campaigns will.”
The Democratic-led House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot is pursuing former President Donald Trump’s White House documents and testimony from key figures in the Trump orbit.
Most Republican leaders have denounced the attack on the Capitol, but many in the party reject characterizing it as an “insurrection” or attempted “coup.” Democrats accuse Republicans of downplaying the severity of actions on Jan. 6.
Mr. Trump, whose repeated claim that Democrats stole the election fueled the violence, has said the rioters posed “zero threat” to lawmakers.
Democrats plan to highlight the violence of that day with TV ads featuring visceral imagery of the pro-Trump mob clashing with police and storming the Capitol to stop Congress from certifying Joseph R. Biden’s election victory.
“One thing that we have learned is that voters really respond when they see images, like when they see the video of the riot,” said another Democratic staffer familiar with the campaign strategy.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which works to elect House Democrats, said another priority will be to tie Republicans to the riot.
“Republicans have spent every day since Jan. 6 lying to the American people about their role in inspiring the deadly attack on our Capitol and defending the insurrectionists who carried it out. We’re going to make sure the American people know it,” DCCC spokeswoman Nebeyatt Betre said.
The effort is well underway.
Ads from Democratic groups and political action committees say Republicans who voted to object to the 2020 presidential election results are in league with the rioters.
A coalition of more than 20 liberal groups spent $800,000 to run a 30-second television ad this summer linking Sen. Ron Johnson, Wisconsin Republican, to the Jan. 6 attack.
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus’ PAC issued Jan. 6-related ads against Republican incumbents in swing districts with large Hispanic populations.
Spanish-language ads, which featured footage from the riot and interviews with U.S. Capitol Police officers, targeted Reps. Carlos A. Gimenez of Florida, Mike Garcia of California, Yvette Herrell of New Mexico and Beth Van Duyne of Texas.
The four lawmakers objected on some level to declaring Mr. Biden as the election winner.
Rep. Jake Auchincloss, Massachusetts Democrat, said the party should stay on message to draw a contrast from Republicans’ downplaying of the riot.
“The most effective contrast that we can draw with them is to say we are a party that believes in the orderly transition of power,” Mr. Auchincloss said. “We are part of the police and the integrity of our democracy. And look at what this party is doing. This party is describing an insurrection as a tourist visit.”
Mr. Auchincloss is among several Democrats who vowed not to work with any Republicans who voted to object to election results.
Democrats are treating Republicans’ objections to state election results as a veritable endorsement of the rioters.
In 2017, Democrats objected to election results in nine states that Mr. Trump won. Republicans objected to results from six states, though the riot may have dissuaded some lawmakers from objecting to results from more states.
Mr. Auchincloss said the decision has made his job harder, but he insisted on drawing a “red line.”
“Any time you take roughly a quarter of Congress off the roster of people with whom I can work with, I do feel like it impairs potentially productive policy,” he said. “But this is one red line that I unequivocally feel like I have to draw to represent my own values and, more importantly, represent my district’s values.”
Some Republicans said the Democrats’ focus on Jan. 6 will backfire. They said the “defenders of democracy” message gives them ammunition to tie Democrats to soft-on-crime policies and the racial justice riots of 2020.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia Republican, said she can use video footage and images of violent protests against her political opponents.
“People aren’t stupid,” Mrs. Greene said. “They’re able to … remember the riots that went on and on in 2020, and they can drive down the road in their city and still see the burnt-down car dealerships or stores and remember all the looting that took place and the police officers that were attacked.”
