In an effort to rescue Anthony Weiner’s vacated seat from a Republican upset, the DCCC is spending close to half a million dollars on a new TV ad.
Things have been bad and looking worse for Democrats in New York’s 9th District, where Democrat David Weprin is fighting a tough special election race against Republican Bob Turner. But media buys are expensive in the Queens and Brooklyn district and the seat’s Democratic lean has kept both national parties from investing their resources up to this point.
Not anymore: according to National Journal, the DCCC is dropping an impressive $483,000 on a TV ad to begin running tomorrow. House Majority PAC, a Super PAC dedicated to electing Democrats, is also dropping $100,000 on ads.
The ad buys underscore the importance of the race to Democrats. Turner has tried to make the race a referendum on President Obama, especially the White House’s efforts to broker a deal between Israeli and the Palestinian Authority, and has aggressively courted Jewish voters in the area. A loss would mean a lot of questions about Obama’s standing with the American Jewish community and whether his depressed approval ratings are dragging Democrats down in even left-leaning districts.
The election is September 13.
Benjy Sarlin
Benjy Sarlin is a reporter for Talking Points Memo and co-writes the campaign blog, TPM2012. He previously reported for The Daily Beast/Newsweek as their Washington Correspondent and covered local politics for the New York Sun.
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