Oct. 17, 2018, 11:15 a.m.
The Congressional Leadership Fund is going up to help Rep. Rod Blum (R) in IA-01, a seat previously thought to be moving off the playing field though polls have tightented recently. CLF will spend $1 million in the Cedar Rapids market and is already out with an ad tying state Rep. Abby Finkenauer (D) to Nancy Pelosi. (Cedar Rapids Gazette) CLF is also airing its first ads in FL-26 on TV and digital accusing the family of state Senate candidate Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D) of taking “$700,000 from a shady Ukrainian oligarch accused of contract killings.” (release)
The DCCC is up with an ad in IA-01 bashing Blum over an ethics scandal, but slashed a $100,000 buy in FL-16 and is shifting $800,000 in ad reservations from the open MN-08 into other districts in the state. (Sarasota Herald-Tribune/Duluth News Tribune)
The committee placed a buy in the Grand Rapids market for MI-06 where former YMCA health official Matt Longjohn (D) is challenging Rep. Fred Upton (R). The flight begins Oct. 23. A recent poll by the committee found Longjohn trailing by just 3 points. (Medium Buying)
House Majority PAC launched new buys in 9 districts and 11 markets for a buy worth about $4.7 millions. The breakdown: $525,000 in AZ-02, $900,000 in IA-03, $419,000 in KS-03, $209,000 in KY-06, $670,000 in MN-01, $320,000 in NJ-03, $600,000 in NJ-05, $475,000 in TX-23, and $667,000 in WA-08. But the PAC shifted about $228,000 earmarked for NE-02 to IA-03, which shares its Omaha media market. With the cancellation of that buy, set to run from Oct. 15 to Election Day, there are no national Democratic groups in for nonprofit executive Kara Eastman (D). (Hotline reporting)
WOMEN VOTE!, the independent expenditure arm of EMILY’s List, is airing radio and digital ads in Montana that knock Rep. Greg Gianforte (R) for his attempts to privatize public lands. The PAC is also up in Virginia running ads in the Norfolk and Richmond markets. One knocks Rep. Scott Taylor (R) for an election fraud scandal in VA-02 and a second hits Rep. Dave Brat (R) for taking money from insurance companies in VA-07. (releases)
The League of Conservation Voters made a $400,000 ad buy in IA-03, accusing Rep. David Young (R) of voting against “common-sense environmental protections.” And the Environmental Defense Fund dropped $500,000 on an ad buy in NJ-03 blasting Rep. Tom MacArthur (R) as a “big polluter.” (releases)
The PAC founded by former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ) placed a $1.1 million buy against Rep. John Culberson (R-TX 07). (FEC)
Meanwhile, CLF dropped ads in IL-06, KS-02, NC-02, NC-09, NJ-03, NJ-07, NY-19, NY-22, OH-01, PA-01, and UT-04. Several of the spots tied Democratic candidates to Nancy Pelosi. Two in NJ-03 and NJ-07 hit former State Department Andy Kim’s (D) and former State Department official Tom Malinowski (D) on tax issues. And in KS-02, the group dropped another ad blasting 2014 governor nominee Paul Davis’s (D) presence at a 1998 drug bust at a strip club. In UT-04, the ad accused Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams (D) of voting to raise his own pay. (release)
America First Action will spend $400,000 to boost Rep. French Hill (R-AR 02). (Politico)
And “Defending Main Street, the political arm of the Republican Main Street Partnership,” released a new ad Tuesday supporting Rep. David Joyce (R-OH 14) and touting his “commitment to ‘protections for individuals with pre-existing conditions.’” The ad, part of a $125,000 buy and scheduled to run until Oct. 23, “features footage of Joyce with his wife, identified as a registered nurse, and his three grown children in outdoor settings.” (Roll Call)
FROM THE CANDIDATES.
CA-45: In a joint TV ad with the DCCC, housing bubble whistleblower Katie Porter (D) hits Rep. Mimi Walters (R) for supporting President Trump and his tax overhaul. (Roll Call)
FL-26: Mucarsel-Powell’s (D) TV ad focuses on her willingness to stand up to the NRA, noting that her father was killed by a gun-wielding criminal. (release)
FL-27: Television journalist Maria Elvira Salazar (R) released a Spanish-language TV ad criticizing an ad from former Clinton Foundation President Donna Shalala (D) as misleading. That ad focused on a tweet from Salazar praising Trump, but it cuts out the context that Salazar praised the president for meeting with the wife of a Venezuelan political prisoner. (release)
MN-02: Actor Samuel L. Jackson stars in a new ad from 2016 nominee Angie Craig (D). In the spot, he is standing in her kitchen next to a litter box. “She’s going to fight for them, which is why I’m here scooping out bits of kitty treasure for her,” he said. (CBS)
MN-08: A new ad from St. Louis County Commissioner Pete Stauber (R) features his son Isaac, who has a number of health conditions, and pledges his support for protecting coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. (release)
NY-21: Former St. Lawrence County Legislator Tedra Cobb (D) highlights her work against corruption in the county legislature in her latest TV ad, arguing that Rep. Elise Stefanik (R) votes how special-interest donors tell her to on issues like health care. (release)
NY-24: John Walsh, the creator of TV’s “America’s Most Wanted,” appears in a TV spot for Rep. John Katko (R) that focuses on the Republican’s bipartisan record. (Auburn Citizen)