GOP PAC hits Patrick Murphy with $10M attack in Florida
A powerful outside group backing Senate Republicans is launching a $10 million ad campaign attacking the Democrat challenging Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).
The Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC with close ties to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), is aiming to portray Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Fla.) as a serial liar who fabricated his resume.
{mosads}The group has a significant amount of money to play with, having raised about $28 million over August — with $20 million of that coming from Las Vegas billionaire Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam.
The new ad, titled “What Else,” is the first installment of the super PAC’s $10.8 million fall television campaign in Florida to help Rubio hold his seat against Murphy.
Borrowing from Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s playbook, the Florida attack ad brands Murphy as “Phony Patrick.” It airs Tuesday on Orlando, Tampa and West Palm Beach broadcast and cable television, according to Senate Leadership Fund spokesman Ian Prior.
Rubio leads Murphy by 6 points, according to a RealClearPolitics average of polls. But the Democratic Party is not yet giving up on Murphy, according to multiple sources with direct knowledge.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) recently canceled a week of ads in Florida and Ohio, instead channeling an additional $2 million into Missouri and $4.2 million into North Carolina, two states where Democratic challengers are staying surprisingly close to Republican incumbents.
While the cancellations appeared ominous for Murphy, Democratic sources familiar with the DSCC’s thinking told The Hill that party strategists don’t view him as a lost cause in the same way they do Ted Strickland, the party’s Ohio’s Senate candidate who is now losing by double digits to Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio).
Democrats are hoping for donors to write some fresh checks to support Murphy in Florida’s expensive advertising market. They are touting the chance to use the race to end Rubio’s political career — a delicious prospect for Democrats, especially because Rubio is expected to take another run at the presidency in the coming years.
Democrats close to the Florida race are hoping that the Senate Majority PAC — an outside group with close ties to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) — will pick up more of the slack for Murphy since the party committee has reduced its commitments.
In July’s financial reporting period, Murphy’s father, Thomas Murphy, a wealthy Florida homebuilder, gave the Senate Majority PAC $1 million.
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