Democrats Launch Lawsuit To Stop Republicans From Using Their Campaign Finance Tactic

House Democrats’ campaign arm sued the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Thursday to block Republicans from using a campaign finance strategy that Democratic committees employ.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) alleges in its lawsuit that Republican joint fundraising committees are exploiting a campaign finance loophole by running attack ads, which they are prohibited from doing, and simply categorizing them as fundraising ads, which are allowed, Axios reported. A joint fundraising committee formed by the DCCC and Democratic Michigan Senate nominee Elisa Slotkin, however, is running an attack ad against Republican Michigan Senate nominee Mike Rogers that seemingly uses the same loophole.

The lawsuit comes after Democrats failed to convince the FEC that Republicans were violating campaign finance law, according to Axios. The Democratic effort to hamstring Republican political spending comes as Democrats outspend the GOP in high-stakes Senate races.

Democrats flagged ads paid for by Republican joint fundraising committees, a type of political committee that collects funds on behalf of a group of other candidates and organizations, that spend the majority of their airtime attacking Democrats and then end with a short fundraising appeal, according