Dems target visa scandal in first SD ad

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) is up with its first ad in South Dakota’s Senate race, ripping former South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds (R) over the visa scandal that has damaged his campaign. The Democrats are suddenly interested in a race they had previously written off. 

{mosads}”You’ve heard about Mike Rounds’s citizenship-for-sale scheme. The fallout. The investigations. Turns out, there’s more. After using a beef packing plant to sell citizenship to wealthy Chinese investors, Rounds gave special tax breaks to a shady offshore corporation to keep the scheme afloat,” the ad’s narrator says. “Mike Rounds. Schemes. Special Favors. Investigations.”

The ad is part of a last-minute $1 million investment the DSCC has made into the race aimed at knocking down Rounds and trying to preserve a Senate seat the party had long ago written off.

Democrat Rick Weiland and former GOP Sen. Larry Pressler, running as an independent, are both within striking distance of Rounds according to recent polling, and Pressler told The Hill last week that he’d be a “friend of Obama” if elected, a sign the former Republican would likely caucus with Democrats if he wins election. He later said he was also a friend of McConnell.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee announced on Friday that it too would spend $1 million in the inexpensive state.