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Democrats Hit Roy Blunt for Helping a Tobacco Company

End Citizens United releases second ad in $900K Missouri buy

End Citizens United is launching another ad attacking Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt‘s lobbyist connections. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)
End Citizens United is launching another ad attacking Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt‘s lobbyist connections. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

End Citizens United, a Democratic PAC, is launching its second ad Thursday in a $900,000 TV and digital buy targeting Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt.

The ad, shared first with Roll Call, attacks the Republican senator for “sneaking a provision to help a tobacco giant into a Homeland Security bill.” The narrator says that Blunt’s wife and son were lobbyists for the company, which paid for Blunt’s weekend trips to a South Carolina resort. 

His trips to that resort were the main attack in the group’s first ad of the $900,000 buy, which launched last week. 

Roy Blunt, the worst of Washington,” the narrator concludes in this most recent ad, which will air in Kansas City and St. Louis through Oct. 30.

[Democratic Group Hits Roy Blunt for Out-of-State Resort Trips]

End Citizens United has hammered Blunt for his family lobbyist ties in several ads. The PAC’s hits on Blunt are consistent with Democrats’ messaging about him being a Washington insider. That’s a line of attack both parties are finding effective this year against incumbents or former senators who want their jobs back. 

Democrats are enthusiastic about their recruit in Missouri, Secretary of State Jason Kander. He raised $3 million during the three-month Federal Election Commission reporting period that ended Sept. 30. Blunt raised just $1.8 million. Blunt has a narrow 1-point edge in the latest RealClearPolitics polling average of this Tossup race. 

On Monday, Hillary Clinton’s coordinated campaign announced it would send $1 million combined to Missouri and Indiana to support Democratic candidates down ballot.

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