A conservative nonprofit aligned with House Republican leadership began airing $1.3 million worth of ads today across two mid-Michigan congressional districts, boosting Republican Rep. Tom Barrett while attacking Democratic Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet over her votes against the sweeping tax-and-spending law signed by President Donald Trump last year. The campaign includes a 30-second television spot backing Barrett in the Lansing-anchored 7th District, and separate messaging opposing McDonald Rivet in the Flint-based 8th District.
The group behind the buy, American Action Network, described the effort as part of a national broadcast, digital and mail advertising campaign, according to The Detroit News. AAN declined to disclose how the $1.3 million is split between the two Michigan districts. The organization is a sister group to House Republicans' dedicated super PAC and says it uses issue ads meant to educate voters about lawmakers' positions on legislation.
A National Push Lands in Two Swing Seats
The mid-Michigan spending is one piece of a much larger $22 million national ad campaign that American Action Network is running across 41 competitive congressional districts this cycle, part of a strategy dubbed “American Comeback” aimed at defending fragile Republican-held seats and expanding the House majority, as reported by NOTUS. AAN's sister super PAC, the Congressional Leadership Fund, has reserved $141 million in ad buys for House midterm races and shares office space and leadership with AAN under President Chris Winkelman, according to Ballotpedia.
Michigan's 7th and 8th Districts sit at the center of that battlefield math. The 7th District, anchored by Lansing, flipped to Republican control in 2024 when Barrett defeated Democrat Curtis Hertel Jr. after Elissa Slotkin left the seat to run for U.S. Senate, the Detroit News reports. The 8th District, anchored by Flint, went the other way: McDonald Rivet won by seven points over Republican Paul Junge even as Trump narrowly carried the district by two points in the presidential race, per the same account.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act as the Central Wedge
The ads lean heavily on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the tax-and-spending law Trump signed on July 4, 2025. Barrett, an Army veteran and Republican incumbent from Charlotte, Michigan, voted for the law, which permanently extended tax cuts set to expire, established new tax breaks on tips and overtime pay, and added new work requirements for Medicaid, the Detroit News notes. AAN's spot casts Barrett as delivering tax relief for families while opposing what it calls left-wing ideas, and the outlet reports that Williamston residents quoted in the ad praised him on those same terms.
McDonald Rivet, a Democratic incumbent from the 8th District, voted against a prior version of the bill as well as against the tax cuts on tips, overtime and senior income, the Detroit News reports. AAN's messaging criticizes her for opposing the law and claims she voted to allow taxpayer-funded sex changes for children — a reference tied to an earlier version of the bill that would have banned federal health programs from supporting gender transition care for minors. The law also cut federal food assistance benefits, according to the same reporting.
Democrats have countered with a different set of numbers. The Congressional Budget Office estimated the law could expand the federal budget deficit by up to $4.7 trillion, according to the Detroit News, a figure that lines up with a broader dynamic-deficit analysis from the Bipartisan Policy Center showing $4.9 trillion in tax cuts offset by $1.2 trillion in cuts to programs like Medicaid and SNAP over the 2026-2035 window.
Who's Actually Paying for the Ads
American Action Network operates as a 501(c)(4) “social welfare” nonprofit under federal tax law, a structure that exempts it from Federal Election Commission rules requiring disclosure of its donors, so long as intervening in candidate elections is not the group's primary activity, according to the Campaign Legal Center. That legal framework lets AAN air targeted issue ads — like the ones now running in Lansing and Flint — without publicly naming who funded them, and these nonprofits frequently move tens of millions of dollars to affiliated super PACs such as the Congressional Leadership Fund.
Tax filings analyzed by government ethics watchdogs show the pharmaceutical trade group PhRMA has contributed $42 million to American Action Network since 2010, including $4 million in 2024 alone, per Issue One. Corporate trade associations have increasingly relied on 501(c)(4) nonprofits like AAN to influence elections while keeping their financial fingerprints out of public view.
Primaries Set the Fall Matchups
Barrett will face Democrat Will Lawrence, a Lansing native who won the August 4 Democratic primary over former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink and candidate Matt Maasdam, according to Ballotpedia. Hoodline previously reported on the sharp exchanges between the two campaigns in the piece Barrett calls rival a felon, as well as on Brink's earlier bid and endorsements in the primary. Lawrence received about $1.7 million in outside backing from Michigan Sunrise PAC, a GOP-aligned group that sought to boost his candidacy, while the Detroit News reports both Barrett and McDonald Rivet held multi-million-dollar fundraising advantages over their general election opponents as of July 15.
In the 8th District, McDonald Rivet will face Republican Thomas Smith of Flint, who won his primary over a Trump-backed opponent after that rival suspended his campaign weeks before the vote, the Detroit News reports. Both House races will be decided in the November general election. AAN also confirmed it will support Rep. Bill Huizenga, who represents Michigan's 4th Congressional District and is from Holland, Michigan, though that race falls outside the two districts receiving the bulk of this ad campaign's attention.
