The House Democrats’ campaign arm is spending large to defend its chief, New York Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney from increasing GOP threats.
The Maloney-run Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee will spend just over $600,000 on air cover for him starting Tuesday as he battles challenger Michael Lawler in a more-competitive-than-expected race. This money comes on top of $110,000 in TV support from Another outside group, Our Hudson. The Hudson formed earlier in the year to help Maloney during his August primary, but he was attacked by Republicans.
New York Democrat, John Doe, has stated that he will not participate in any DCCC decisions regarding his race for the newly redrawn Hudson Valley seat. Although the campaign chief initially dismissed the need for outside assistance, many Democrats claim that his tone has changed in the past week, after the House Republicans’ super PAC, The Congressional Leadership Fund, spent millions more on the airwaves.
According to AdImpact data, a media monitoring firm, the GOP super PAC has already spent more than $4 million on television against Maloney. The GOP campaign arm has also spent more than $480,000. The district’s total spending by Republicans is $5.6 million. Prior to this investment, Democrats had only spent $2.3 million on-air. Multiple party officials stated that they expected more support.
“Since Day One, Chairman Maloney worked tirelessly as a player coach — He’s built campaign and we have built an operation at DCCC that can support this reality,” stated Chris Taylor, a DCCC spokesperson. As we did with every other decision in this cycle, we made investments to ensure Democrats retain our House Majority.
The DCCC has a hybrid ad running for Maloney. It splits the costs with his campaign, but must use some of the spot for messaging against national Republicans. The party can purchase air time at a lower rate than the rates offered to outside groups by running a hybrid ad.
This 30-second ad attacks Republican state legislator Lawler and uses footage of Sen. Ted Cruz (R.Texas), Rep. Majorie Greene (R.Ga.), and the GOP leaders in the House and Senate. CBS reported the DCCC’s spending move.
Many party members feel that they must protect Maloney because a loss of Maloney as DCCC chair would be a huge embarrassment. It’s a difficult development for a Democratic caucus that is struggling to find resources in a midterm environment favoring the GOP.
DCCC officials tried to calm other incumbents before announcing the proMaloney purchase. Multiple people who were familiar with the conversation say that the group’s executive director informed Democratic frontliners before the announcement.
Allies of Maloney say that they are confident that they will hold the seat as long as they can compete with the GOP in the remaining weeks. However, his recently redrawn congressional district is not locked. Voters chose President Joe Biden over Donald Trump with a margin of about 10 points in 2012. This is exactly the kind of seat Democrats claim they will need to defend.
