Pro-LGBTQ+ PAC Targets Pa. Republican Candidates Oz and Mastriano

A pro-LGBTQ+ political action committee launched an advertisement campaign in Pennsylvania today to encourage voters to support Democratic candidates on November 8.

Agenda PAC announced that it had launched a six-figure digital ad campaign to highlight the urgency and importance of this election for equality, choice, and democracy, according to a press release.

With less than two weeks left until Election Day, the ad buy targets Pennsylvania voters who have indicated a high level of interest in equality and a post-Roe v. Wade future. According to Agenda PAC, the goal is to turn those people into voters who cast a ballot.

The group is aiming its focus on young people in the counties surrounding Philadelphia by targeting them on Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram.

"Every single vote counts, and at Agenda PAC, we have set out to reach every single reachable voter where they are," Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, chair of Agenda PAC, tells The Advocate. "We are being hyper-targeted and smart in finding the voters with pro-equality [mindsets] but who are on the fence about turning out."

He says his organization is "ringing the alarm about what's at stake for our democracy" and making clear to anyone who will listen that this election is of utmost existential importance.

"The ad's name is 'Siren,' and we are blaring that siren," Kenyatta says. "Fascism is on the rise. The bigoted and homophobic candidates running for office are the same candidates who embrace fascism and embrace anti-democratic views of the world that we're seeing finding a home in the Republican party, and so we are going to be targeting these voters to turn out."

Kenyatta adds that Republican candidates in the state are "out of touch."

"Siren" will run through Election Day.

The new ad campaign attacks Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano and Republican Senate candidate Mehmet Oz for promoting a "fascist, anti-truth agenda," the release says.

"One is from out of state. The other we'd send out of state if someone would take him. But they are both out of their minds," Kenyatta says, referring to the GOP candidates. "Too much is at stake in this race -- our very freedoms. We have to win for Democrats up and down the ballot."

Agenda PAC has especially been looking to get LGBTQ+ voters to the polls, hoping they'll turn up for Democratic candidates. Last week, the group launched a run of digital ads targeting those voters across the state of Pennsylvania on Grindr. According to the group, the ads were delivered to the inbox of every person with the app on their mobile device geofenced in Pennsylvania ahead of the state's October 24 voter registration deadline.

"Agenda PAC is proud to make this strategic buy to mobilize a crucial bloc of voters in Pennsylvania who we need to turnout if we're going to defeat Doug Mastriano and hold the Senate," said Ted Bordelon, executive director of Agenda PAC. "We're proud to stand on the frontlines of democracy, LGBTQ+ rights, and choice in the state where Agenda PAC was founded."

Kenyatta says that all people, but specifically all Pennsylvanians, should make it their mission to vote.

"Our basic freedoms and our sacred freedoms to not have the government dictate how we live our lives and whether or not we can control our own bodies are all on the line," Kenyatta says. "If we don't show up and vote, we will see more states rip away freedoms that we thought were guaranteed. But if we show up to vote, we can codify Roe, we can codify the protection of [marriage equality], we can make it so the next generation has more freedoms and opportunities and not less."

Kenyatta adds, "We have that power."