A Republican group is putting up billboards to remind former President Trump that he lost the 2020 election.
The first billboard is up in Times Square, and reads "Trump lost. No more 'audits.'"
The group plans to run these billboards in states where Trump is calling for vote audits.
By Cheryl Teh
A group of Republicans is putting up billboards across America to remind former President Donald Trump that he lost last year's election, starting with a gigantic display in Times Square.
The Republicans for Voting Rights group tweeted a photo of the New York City billboard on October 14, which read:
"TRUMP LOST. NO MORE 'AUDITS.'"
There are currently 36 "Trump Lost" billboards across nine states according to a map posted on the Republicans for Voting Rights website,
"Republicans for Voting Rights is launching a quarter-million-dollar billboard campaign across the country to call on state lawmakers to reject frivolous audits of the 2020 election results," read a statement by the group. According to its website, RVR is a group of eight Republicans, including Olivia Troye, a former aide to Mike Pence, and Michael Steele, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee.
"The billboard will run in major markets in states where there's discussion about an audit of the 2020 election, including Georgia, Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Arizona, as well as New York City's Times Square," added the group in its statement.
There have been calls for vote audits even in Florida and Texas, states that Trump won. Most recently, the GOP-led audit of the vote count in Maricopa County confirmed President Joe Biden won the election and resulted in Trump losing 261 votes. However, Trump has continued to falsely claim the GOP audit uncovered "undeniable evidence" of fraud.
This billboard campaign appears to be the latest salvo fired by anti-Trump Republicans in a bid to loosen the former president's hold on power over the GOP. Just this week, GOP officials penned an op-ed in The New York Times urging Republican voters to back Democrats in the 2022 midterm elections to save the Republican party from 'pro-Trump extremists.'
The Times op-ed was written by Miles Taylor, a Trump-era Department of Homeland Security chief of staff, and Christine Todd Whitman, a former Republican governor of New Jersey. In 2020, Taylor revealed himself to be the anonymous author behind a 2018 op-ed article in The Times describing a "resistance" of Trump administration officials working to quell what he called the former president's "worst inclinations."
Taylor continues to pursue the cause to weaken Trump's influence on the GOP. This week, the Renew America Movement (RAM), a group that Taylor co-founded, endorsed 21 Democrats and prominent Republicans running in risky midterm races. The candidates included Democrat Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, Maine Rep. Jared Golden, and known anti-Trump GOP Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.
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