Sitting out September?
The National Republican Congressional Committee is canceling spending in Pittsburgh that had been set for September 12 to October 8 according to Medium Buying.
NRCC IE is canceling spending in Pittsburgh DMA that had been placed for 9/12-10/8.
Still has $$$ in market in place from 10/8 through Election Day
— Medium Buying (@MediumBuying) September 4, 2018
This news mostly pertains to the race in Pennsylvania’s 17th Congressional District between incumbents Reps. Conor Lamb (D-Allegheny) and Keith Rothfus (R-Allegheny). A much smaller portion of the Pittsburgh television market includes voters for the 16th District’s race between incumbent Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Butler) and Democratic challenger, Ron DiNicola.
The Rothfus campaign believes its most recent television ads are positively impacting voters and this decision from the NRCC will not hurt them.
“Keith Rothfus is in great position to win this race,” said Mike Barley, campaign spokesman. “Our campaign’s latest television ads are having a tremendous impact and we are seeing real energy for Keith’s campaign on the ground.”
Rothfus has released two television ads thus far for the general election. Their first ad details the Republican’s support for protecting Social Security and Medicare, while the second ad just released last week, discusses vouching for affordable health insurance.
This announcement becomes known four days after Politico’s story titled “‘Tough decisions have to be made’: House Republicans prepare for pain”, which referenced Rothfus by name as one of the Republican lawmakers that may be “cut loose” by the NRCC.
The NRCC did not explain what led to this decision, but provided the following comment.
“Congressman Rothfus is running on a strong record of accomplishment against a rubber stamp who’s voted with Nancy Pelosi nearly 90 percent of the time,” said NRCC spokesman Chris Martin.
The Rothfus campaign boasted about the amount of money raised recently and stated the NRCC will still be helping next month.
“The NRCC is not canceling the buy, but is pushing it back,” said Barley. “Keith has raised more than enough resources this month and is building support to win this campaign.”
According to Medium Buying, the NRCC still has money in the market in place from October 8 through Election Day, although that could be canceled at a later date as well.
Rothfus does not mention Lamb by name once in his two television ads for the general election, but took a shot at him today pinning him to the progressive wing of the party.
“The real question for voters is where is Conor Lamb,” Barley said. “According to voting records, he is in Washington, D.C. voting the extreme liberal agenda with wannabe Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.”
The Lamb campaign declined to comment on the news of the NRCC pulling the advertising in Pittsburgh for the next month.
6 Responses
I guess Trump is not going to take on Lamb again. Why did he call him. Sheep? Keith has nothing to lose now, maybe he should tell us what he really thinks of Trump and his colleagues. He is in almost Flake territory now. The truth will set him free.
Looks like the R’s are giving up on Rothfus and it seems like the right thing to do. Lamb is an up-and-coming rock star within the Democratic Party. He will win comfortably.
It could be because “Rothfus to get $726K in outside spending from far-right group“, per a linkinghe very same email that carried this headline. GOP decides to save money since others are footling the bill. Smart economics.
One anonymous donor or group spent nearly $30 million pushing the Gorsuch nomination, and was also an anonymous donor to the Trump Inauguration, which has still not accounted for tens of millions in donations. This really underscores the problem of dark money.
Yep, both parties only pull ads when things aren’t looking good. TEA Party Keith is outta here…..
Hiding behind mommy’s skirt has had an impact on the voters: “Oh Hell No!” and the party bosses took notice. Rothfussy is a goner. Better spend the $ somewhere else.