The Republican decision to
go full Willie Horton in Nebraska may not be having the intended effect. It was a calculated risk to begin with, showing just how shaky Republican Rep. Lee Terry (NE-02)'s campaign has been. It's a winnable race for the Democrats, and it may have
just gotten more winnable.
Brad Ashford, the Democratic state senator seeking to upset Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb), has raised more than $20,500 from 434 online donations since national Republicans released an ad Friday that aimed to tie Ashford to a convicted murderer, the campaign said Monday.
“Rather than do the respectable thing and denounce these racist, fear-mongering ads, Lee Terry has defended them,” Kurt Gonska, Ashford’s campaign manager, said in an email. “It's hurting his campaign as we've seen a huge influx of individual online donations come in as a direct response to the outrage voters feel.” [...]
[T]he ad has angered many, including former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, who called the ad “racist,” and Terry’s GOP primary opponent, Dan Frei (Jenkins is African-American.).
So perhaps the Republican ad juxtaposing Ashford with a Scary Black Man may play well with Terry's base, but it also has goosed state Democratic supporters into action
and gotten Terry slammed by fellow Republicans.
Help defeat Republican fearmongering by chipping in $3 to any of these Daily Kos endorsed House candidates.
Defeat Mitch McConnell in just two hours. Sign up to make GOTV calls to Democrats.
House Majority PAC has put up
their own response ad (see above) slamming Terry, so this isn't going away. We'll see if it turns into a net negative for Terry in the voting booths, but it doesn't look to be doing him any favors so far.