PAC will spend $400K to help Horn
Independence USA, a political action committee backed by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, will spend $400,000 to air a television ad in Oklahoma City supporting Democratic congressional challenger Kendra Horn, the PAC said Friday.
“Our schools rank 49th in the nation, and Steve Russell is part of the mess,” the ad states, as video clips of the Oklahoma Capitol and Gov. Mary Fallin play. “As a state legislator, Russell voted with Governor Fallin to underfund our schools.”
The ad contains criticisms Horn has leveled for months against Russell, an incumbent Republican seeking a third term. Horn has consistently attempted to link Russell, who served one term in the Oklahoma Senate, to the unpopular Republican governor.
Russell, of Choctaw, has shrugged off the comparison and noted that education is largely a state, not federal, issue. On Friday, his campaign accused Horn of hypocrisy for railing against political action committees and large donors but benefiting from a PAC in the final week of the race.
“This is just another example of hypocrisy from the Horn campaign," said Allison Smith, deputy campaign manager for Russell. "From fundraising in Hollywood to hiding her history as an unregistered Washington, D.C., lobbyist, voters know when Kendra says one thing, she’s really doing another.”
Russell and Horn are vying for the seat in the 5th Congressional District, which includes most of Oklahoma County and Seminole and Pottawatomie counties. The election is Tuesday.
Horn, of Oklahoma City, said Friday that she's the only candidate running to reform America's political system and the only candidate refusing to fund her campaign with corporate PAC money.
"I believe that our system is fundamentally broken and needs to be fixed. Steve Russell does not," Horn said.
The $400,000 ad buy is by far the largest to date in the race between Horn and Russell. It will air during a broadcast of Saturday's University of Oklahoma football game and in prime time on several channels through Tuesday, according to public reports filed with the Federal Communications Commission.
Both campaigns will now have their own ad on the airwaves, as well as an outside group’s ad, through Election Day. With Honor, a group that helps military veterans running for office, released a pro-Russell ad this week and has spent $100,000 to broadcast it. With Honor is funded in part by the world's richest person, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.