A compilation of Jason McLure published in Cq Press. Here is an excerpt:
When the incumbent in western New York’s 23rd Congressional District decided not to run for re-election last year, real estate mogul Carl Paladino thought he had a chance to win the seat. An outspoken former Republican nominee for governor, Paladino had been labeled “Buffalo’s Donald Trump” and appeared poised to capitalize on the former president’s strong support in the Republican-leaning district.
But as the August GOP primary approached, Paladino was hit by a wave of negative ads blasting him for having once donated money to Democrats such as former Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Chuck Schumer. Other ads portrayed him as a con artist for taking economic development tax incentives, which he says are commonly used by real estate developers. These ads did not come from Paladino’s primary opponent, state Republican Chair Nick Langworthy, but from an opaque group called American Liberty Action PAC.
If so, the swamp won: Paladino lost the primary by just 1,847 votes. American Liberty Action’s ads may have been decisive: After the primary, Federal Election Commission (FEC) data revealed the group had spent $1 million on ads hammering Paladino and bolstering Langworthy — more than double what Langworthy himself had spent on the entire race. In the November general election, he easily beat a Democrat to win the seat.
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