In politics, it’s part of the cycle of life: First your opponents bring in outside money to attack you. Then you attack your opponents for using outside money.
That is the stage where Democrat Conor Lamb and Republican Rick Saccone find themselves just days before the special election Tuesday in Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District.
Mr. Lamb and his allies have been outspent in the race, though perhaps by smaller margins than seemed likely at its outset. And 200 union members gathered Friday at the United Steelworkers headquarters Downtown to portray their man as a grassroots champion.
"This election in many ways is going to be a strong statement .. about what a grassroots campaign can do” in the face of “money from all over the country,” Steelworkers International President Leo Gerard told attendees.
“You can’t turn on the TV without seeing that Washington money coming in,” said Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald. "On Tuesday, we're going to send a message that [the] outside money from Washington, D.C., does not represent what we are in Western Pennsylvania."
In fact, Mr. Lamb’s donor rolls do include some names you aren’t likely to find on the mailbox next door. Actors Zachary Quinto and Alyssa Milano are contributors, as is Rosie O’Donnell. The Center for Responsive Politics finds that New York, Washington and Chicago are among the top sources of support, though all three trail money from Pittsburgh by a wide margin..
And according to an NBC News analysis of ad spending, Mr. Lamb’s campaign is the top spender, shelling out $3.2 million on ads so far, more than four times the $769,000 spent by Mr. Saccone’s campaign.
Mr. Lamb’s advantage, however, is more than offset by just three outside GOP groups, led by the National Republican Congressional Committee, that have aired ads worth more than $5.4 million. Other GOP groups have also been active, with the first ads in the race paid for by Ending Spending, a group trying to curtail government spending.
Those numbers don’t capture some of the other vehicles outside groups are using. Unusually, one of them, the Congressional Leadership Fund, has been paying canvassers for Saccone to knock doors in the district since late last year.
Democrats in the district say they’ve also received mailers from the fund purporting to thank Mr. Lamb “for opposing gun restrictions.” Mailers feature excerpts from newspaper stories attesting to Mr. Lamb’s disinterest in new gun regulations beyond expanding background checks. They also feature a photo of Mr. Lamb himself toting an AR-15 rifle: That image first appeared in Mr. Lamb’s own first TV spot.
Asked whether the ad was an attempt to disenchant more liberal Democrats with their candidate’s moderate stance on guns, the Fund responded, “Our job is to make sure voters … know where Conor Lamb stands on important issues of the day. This mailer was sent to voters who might find his views on the Second Amendment of note.”
For his part, Mr. Lamb argued at the union rally that the influence of money needed to be seen in a broader context.
Conservative interest groups “are the same people paying for the Janus lawsuit,” a Supreme Court case that could drastically weaken the bargaining power of public sector unions. Groups that have actively supported the lawsuit include a number of well-heeled business groups, and ideological groups such as the Pittsburgh-based Sarah Scaife Foundation.
“They can do whatever they want in the courts,” Mr. Lamb said, but “\they can't drown out your voice."
First Published: March 10, 2018, 1:31 a.m.