WASHINGTON — A political group backed by billionaires Charles and David Koch is pumping another $2.2 million into television and digital ads in Ohio’s Senate race.
The latest ad wave brings the investment of the Kochs’ well-funded network to about $7.7 million on paid media in the matchup between incumbent Republican Sen. Rob Portman and Democratic former Gov. Ted Strickland. Koch groups including Americans for Prosperity also have been knocking on doors and making phone calls to voters to boost Portman support.
The anti-Strickland ads focus on taxes and fees he raised while in office.
The Ohio spending comes as the billionaires have distanced themselves from the presidential race and presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump and focused, at least for now, solely on protecting the Republican-led Senate and House.
“It’s no surprise that the Koch Brothers are ready to pour millions of dollars into Ohio to try to keep their friend Rob Portman in the Senate,” said Lauren Passalacqua, the national press secretary for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. “Unfortunately for the Kochs and Rob Portman, no amount of money will hide Portman’s record of putting special interests ahead of Ohio families, and voters will remember that on Election Day.”
Passalaqua accuses Portman of voting in the Kochs’ interests nearly 90 percent of the time in the Senate.