In his messy primary, Troy Balderson needed former Representative turned lobbyist Pat Tiberi to not just back him, but spend $470k of his leftover campaign cash to get over the line.
In the general election, Balderson’s reliance on SuperPACs and other establishment politicians to prop him up has only increased. Balderson needed a fundraiser and a rally from Vice President Mike Pence, in two separate trips to the district in just a couple of months. Balderson needed big dollar fundraisers in Columbus from Speaker Paul Ryan and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy – the two highest-ranking Republicans in the House – and another fundraiser by Ryan in DC.
Despite all of this fundraising help, Democrat Danny O’Connor raised nearly four times what Balderson did during the last fundraising period. Because of Balderson’s lackluster fundraising, Republican groups have jumped in and spent more than $4 million to prop him up, with the biggest chunk coming from Paul Ryan’s Super PAC. That’s more than five times what Balderson has spent himself over the same period.
But that’s not it…Balderson has needed not one, not two, not three, but four promotional tweets from President Trump. And Donald Trump Jr. recorded a robocall for Balderson paid for by America First Action, yet another Republican outside group. Finally, Balderson has needed Governor Kasich to throw him his support at the 11th hour and cut a TV ad for him that will be aired, you guessed it, by a Republican group.
All of this to try to hold on to a district that hasn’t elected a Democrat since 1980.
“At this point it’s probably hard for voters to decipher who is running in the special election in OH-12: Troy Balderson or a bunch of Super PAC’s. If Troy Balderson can’t speak for himself in his own campaign, how would he speak for Central Ohio in Congress?” – DCCC Spokesperson Jacob Peters