Eugene DePasquale is on the air with a positive new ad, that promotes his record as Auditor General. 

In an exclusive to PoliticsPA, DePasquale’s latest 30 second spot titled, “Watchdog” slams special interests and doesn’t name his opponent or either party. 

“In Washington, big corporations have an army of lobbyists getting them special perks, and families here get left behind,” DePasquale says at the beginning of the ad. “That’s just wrong.”

“I’m Eugene DePasquale, as your Auditor General, I spent my time protecting taxpayers, rooting out waste and fraud, and exposing corruption. And when I discovered a massive number of untested rape kits, I got to work, reducing the backlog by 97%.”

Rep. Scott Perry’s (R-York) campaign fired back, saying that DePasquale is not really the “watchdog” that he claims to be. He characterized the Auditor’s relationship with Gov. Tom Wolf as a conflict of interest, referring to the fact that DePasquale is in the process of auditing the Governor’s COVID-19 policies related to business openings. 

“Eugene DePasquale took thousands of dollars in personal campaign contributions from Governor Wolf, the subject of his most high-profile audit. Even worse, despite being under investigation, the Governor headlined a $2,800 a head fundraiser for him,” said Perry spokesman Matt Beynon.

“Wolf raises DePasquale tens of thousands, DePasquale’s audit of Wolf gets buried. DePasquale, the watchdog? Corrupt lapdog is more like it.” 

The Pennsylvania Capital-Star reported on Wolf’s donation to DePasquale’s campaign earlier in September. In that article, Perry described Wolf donating to the campaign as “either brazenly corrupt or completely incompetent,” while DePasquale said that “You can do your job and support someone politically at the same time.” DePasquale added that previous audits critical of Wolf show that he’s not beholden to him. 

This is the fourth TV ad released from DePasquale in the campaign thus far. He hasn’t addressed Perry by name in any of those spots. However, Perry’s first TV ad attempted to link DePasquale with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a “radical socialist agenda.” 

A trio of national ratings outlets have this currently rated as the tightest congressional race this fall. Inside Elections lists the race in PA10 as Tilt Republican; Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball has it as Leans Republican, and the Cook Political Report has it as a Toss-Up.