Today some candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives, 3rd District, spoke out against dark money going into a television ad that criticizes candidate Brent Welder.
What irked the Democratic candidates was an ad from a group called “Ending Spending, Inc.” that is running a TV ad critical of Welder, saying he is “too progressive.” Almost $160,000 was spent on the TV ad, and it was traced to a political action committee that received contributions from Joe Ricketts, a billionaire who backed Donald Trump, according to the Democrats.
Democratic candidates Sharice Davids and Tom Niermann issued a statement on the dark money ad:
“Kevin Yoder and the Republicans are clearly worried about his re-election. Yoder decided a long time ago to vote with party leaders instead of his community, counting on billionaires to bail out his campaign when he faces tough challengers, as he does now. He has now gone yet another bridge too far – calling in Republican dark money to elevate an opponent of his choosing, rather than answer to his constituents for his egregious votes. We condemn Republicans’ undemocratic meddling in the Democratic primary, and urge 3rd District voters not to fall for Kevin Yoder’s continued schemes.”
Shawn Borich, the campaign manager for Brent Welder, the target of the dark money ad, stated, “Brent Welder is the only Democrat beating Congressman Yoder in public polling and has raised more money than any Democratic challenger in the history of our district. Brent is proud to have worked for President Barack Obama who took on the Wall Street bankers behind this Super PAC.”
Candidate Sylvia Williams’ statement: “All the candidates in this race have pledged publicly to not take third party outside money in the primary. My campaign has stood by our commitment to the voters. I have concerns about the amount of outside money flowing into this race to influence the outcome of the primary election. Anything you see about my campaign that has my name on it has been paid for by the Sylvia Williams for Congress campaign. “
From Mike McCamon, a Democratic candidate: “Everyone tells me they’re tired of the money in politics. Working families know that hard work gets the best results and I was disappointed to hear rich people outside of Kansas are trying to buy our election.”
“It’s obvious that Kevin Yoder and the Republicans are worried about this election, and I think they should be, because this is an election where they’re facing a pretty significant challenge,” said Tom Niermann, who is running for the 3rd District seat. In this instance, Yoder has gone too far, Niermann said.
The primary election is Aug. 7.