'I'm under attack,' members of Congress turn to dark rhetoric in fundraising

Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle are increasingly using dark rhetoric about the political system being in dire straits and claiming they are under attack in their bids to raise more political cash.

The latest batch of campaign emails sought to capitalize on the House vote to remove Rep. Kevin McCarthy from the position of speaker.

Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, who led the effort to oust McCarthy, is among the loudest lawmakers to say he is under fire in fundraising emails.

"Friends of Matt Gaetz" sent an email Thursday with the headline "I'm under attack," featuring the highlighted message: "I was ATTACKED and BOOED by RINOs for asking you to weigh in and contribute to this fight."

An identical fundraising call was sent Wednesday, but from a different email address, as shown by the Archive of Political Emails, a website run by the nonprofit conservative organization Defending Democracy Together Institute.

Friends of Matt Gaetz also sent out a third, nearly identical email from yet another email address on Tuesday with the headline "You've been attacked..."

Friends of Matt Gaetz had used the rhetoric of being under attack before ousting McCarthy. For example, in September, the campaign sent emails with the headlines, "Now the White House is attacking me" and "A Pathetic RINO Attack."

South Carolina GOP Rep. Nancy Mace slammed Gaetz in January as a "fraud" because "every time he voted against Kevin McCarthy last week, he sent out a fundraising email," she told CBS at the time.

But Mace started campaign fundraising after she joined Gaetz in voting McCarthy out. 

"I have not been fundraising off of this every step of the way. I made my decision, last night. I made the decision to fundraise, over the last 24 hours, because of the threats that I have received, over fundraising and money drying up, which is why I need help," Mace said Wednesday on CNN when pressed as to why she is now raising money given her previous comments about Gaetz.

Kevin McCarthy for Congress, the California Republican's campaign group, has used extreme language in fundraising emails too.

"I am not exaggerating when I say this fundraising deadline will MAKE OR BREAK the GOP!" the campaign wrote in an email late last week before he was removed as speaker.

Other Republican campaigns that have recently said in fundraising emails they are in dismal situations include Rep. Bob Good, who voted to oust McCarthy, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Sen. Ted Cruz, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik.

"I’m under constant attack – we must set the record straight and share my vision to restore America’s promise," Cruz says in a Sept. 28 fundraising letter. 

Republicans are not the only ones using radical rhetoric in campaign emails. 

"I won’t stand for another two years of McCarthy’s attacks on our Democracy, and neither should you," Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a fundraising message late last month. "I’ve had enough of Republicans’ dangerous and unpatriotic scheming."

On Wednesday after McCarthy's removal, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., sent out a fundraising email with the headline, "MAGA Republicans just plunged Congress into chaos," and featuring the message, "If MAGA extremists get their way, they'll send us back centuries" by trying to "dismantle our democracy."

Not every member of Congress approves of the extreme fundraising emails, however. 

"You’re going to see a lot of scare tactics from both sides about how, if you’d only send them $5, then America will be saved from the brink of collapse. I’m sure it gets overwhelming and that you are tired of seeing the same hyperbolic rhetoric fill your email inbox, especially at the end of the month," Texas GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw said in a fundraising email late last month. 

Earlier this week, Crenshaw reiterated his thoughts on the matter in a post on X.

"If you’re voting with every single Democrat in the House to oust a Republican Speaker, it’s not about winning for your constituents. It’s not about winning for conservatives. Based on all the fundraising emails we are seeing, it’s only about personal attention," he said. "There are people who fight for you, and people who fight for your attention. Big difference."

Follow Madeleine Hubbard on X or Instagram.