Democrats are hoping to pick up some congressional seats and have one Florida Republican clearly in their sights.
This week, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) announced its first ad buys for the general election, purchasing more than $30 million for commercials around the country and almost $4 million of that being used to target freshman Republican Carlos Curbelo.
“There is little doubt that the size of the Democratic caucus will be larger next year – the only question is how much larger,” said Meredith Kelly, a spokeswoman for the DCCC. “This initial reservation shows we are going on offense in a big way."
Kelly insisted having Donald Trump as the Republican presidential nominee would help boost Democrats’ chances.
“Donald Trump continues to tear the Republican brand to shreds as he marches toward their nomination, and Republican incumbents will be dragged down by his trainwreck," Kelly said.
The DCCC plans to spend $3.85 million in South Florida on both English and Spanish language ads to topple Curbelo with commercials running from the end of September until Election Day in November.
Curbelo’s team punched back on Thursday, linking the DCCC to Nancy Pelosi.
“Nancy Pelosi’s campaign arm, the DCCC, just announced they’re going to spend at least $3.8 million on negative ads against Carlos.” Curbelo’s team insisted. “This is just the beginning.Ad buys this early in the race mean there will certainly be more to come.
“Pelosi will do just about anything to regain her seat here in South Florida even if it means supporting a crook like Joe Garcia,” Curbelo’s team added.
Garcia, who lost to Curbelo back in 2014 after serving one term in Congress, is aiming for a rematch in November. Annette Taddeo, who led Miami Dade Democrats and was Charlie Crist’s running mate in 2014, is also running for the Democratic nomination. Much of the national leadership, including Pelosi and New Mexico Congressman Ben Ray Lujan the chairman of the DCCC, are backing Taddeo.
While this South Florida district has been up for grabs in recent years with Garcia winning in 2012 and Curbelo triumphing two years later, after the latest round of redistricting, Democrats have the edge here.
