OH-12: DCCC launches ad campaign to back O'Connor for Tiberi's old seat
WASHINGTON — The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is wading deeper into the special election to replace former U.S. Rep. Pat Tiberi.
A source familiar with a new ad buy said Thursday the committee is spending $238,000 on Columbus TV between July 20 and July 30 in support of Franklin County Recorder Danny O’Connor, who is running against Republican state Sen. Troy Balderson of Zanesville in a central Ohio district that President Donald Trump won by 11 points in 2016.
Though the DCCC has been involved in the race, this would be the first TV ad it has bought to back O’Connor. Balderson, meanwhile, has already has had both the National Republican Congressional Committee and a Speaker Paul Ryan-affiliated super PAC, the Congressional Leadership Fund, spend some $2 million on his behalf, including opening a field office supporting him in the latter organization’s case. Both have run blistering ads against O’Connor — the CLF began airing a new ad Thursday claiming O’Connor would be part of “the liberal resistance” if elected — tbut Democrats say they’re optimistic because polls indicate O’Connor is gaining ground despite the attacks, though Balderson has consistently led him.
The DCCC had not released footage or a script of their ad as of mid-afternoon Thursday.
Their investment in O’Connor comes despite his indication that he will not support House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, for a leadership position if he is elected. O’Connor is one of a growing group of Democrats to indicate as much, with Hamilton County Clerk of Courts Aftab Pureval, a Democrat running against Rep. Steve Chabot in Cincinnati, the latest to join that group.
Both O’Connor and Balderson as well as Green Party candidate Joe Manchik are on the Aug. 7 ballot to replace Tiberi, a Republican who left Congress in January to take a job with the Ohio Business Roundtable. Were O’Connor to win, he’d be the first Democrat to win the seat since 1980. The district includes Delaware, Licking and Morrow counties as well as parts of Franklin, Marion, Muskingum and Richland counties.
http://www.dispatch.com/news/20180719/dccc-launches-ad-campaign-to-back-oconnor-for-tiberis-old-seat