Fact checking Ohio's U.S. Senate campaign ads
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- While watching anything on television, you’re likely seeing a lot of campaign advertisements due, in part, because of a combined $400 million being spent on ad buys for Ohio’s U.S. Senate race alone.
Are they effective?
The short answer, from experts on both sides of the aisle is yes, to an extent.
“Despite all the new ways that you can get to people, social media and mail, you still get to them more through TV than anything else,” Democratic strategist David Pepper said. “But I also think it hits a point of saturation, and I would say we're clearly there in Ohio right now.”
“There's got to be a point where people just get too saturated and they just shrug their shoulders and say, ‘I'm tired of these ads,’” Republican strategist Ryan Stubenrauch said. “And given the amount of money -- close to half a billion dollars -- being spent on this election here in Ohio, we might be getting to that point for a lot of people.”
Pepper explained that the candidates have to keep up with each other.
“Someone could say all that money they’re spending, nothing’s changing, yeah but if you haven’t been spending and the other side was pummeling away with all these negative ads, that obviously would be problematic for the other side,” Pepper said.
And Stubenrauch said while things may seem negative overall, playing into that emotional card typically resonates with voters.
“Americans and Ohioans say, ‘Oh, I hate negative ads, I hate political ads,’ but the problem is, generally speaking, they work,” Stubenrauch said.
Pepper said it is typical for the last six or seven weeks of a campaign to flood the airwaves, but he said the “idea that it goes all the way back to the summer” is something he has never seen.
“I'll say to all Ohioans, ‘Congratulations. On Nov. 6, you got to get your television sets back,’” he said.
Stubenrauch said it is important for candidates to have a few different ads running. He said the negative ads are effective, but candidates also need to define who they are and what they do, and the price tag going behind it all this year is unheard of.
“Fifteen years ago, the notion that you would have $40 million spent on a race seemed ridiculous, and so the notion that you could get another zero added to that just seems, you know, I know inflation is pretty bad and I didn’t think it was that bad,” Stubenrauch said.
Ads by Moreno’s campaign
Incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown is running for his fourth term in the U.S. Senate. He is being challenged by Republican businessman Bernie Moreno in a tight race, so each side is trying to gain whatever edge they can. Like, in a Moreno ad, which features Ottowa County Sherriff Stephen Levorchick.
“I used to vote for Sherrod Brown and the Democrats. Not this year, they voted to protect sanctuary cities releasing criminal illegal immigrants into our streets,” Levorchick said in the ad.
Experts on both sides said it’s a smart ad.
“When you put real faces who are communicating the message to an ad, that helps,” Pepper said.
“For someone to go on camera and say, ‘Listen, I used to support Democrats, now they've lost my support,’ that's effective,” Stubenrauch said.
Two different versions of that advertisement are airing, one is 30 seconds and the other is 14 seconds, they each get the same message across. But is it true?
The sheriff you see there was a Democrat in 2016, turned Independent in 2020, and in the most recent primary, he ran as a Republican.
Brown’s team said the claim about sanctuary cities is false, and points to the Senator’s support for a bi-partisan border bill and introduction of legislation to detain immigrants linked to violent crime.
Brown was against an executive order by former President Donald Trump to block federal grants to “sanctuary cities” and said he believes cities cannot afford to spent local tax dollars on federal law enforcement.
In a statement, a Brown campaign spokesperson said, “Sherrod has worked with Republicans and Democrats to secure the Southern border, successfully passed legislation to crack down on fentanyl trafficking and keep law enforcement safe on the job and has been clear that immigrants who commit violent crimes should be deported. He will continue to work with Ohio law enforcement to advance their top priorities and keep Ohioans safe.”
In a statement from Moreno’s campaign, a spokesperson said, “Bernie is going to Washington to fix the mess that career politicians like Sherrod Brown have made. Bernie looks forward to working with President Trump to secure our southern border, deport the millions of illegals who have crossed our border under this administration's watch, get our economy growing again, end the war on American energy, and restore the peace around the world that we had under President Trump's strong leadership. Sherrod Brown has been a rubber-stamp for the Biden-Harris' disastrous agenda, and Ohio will send him packing in November."
Ad by Brown’s campaign
An ad from Brown’s campaign is a direct response to an attack ad about himself. The attack ad, from the Senate Leadership Fund, accuses Brown of voting to allow transgender athletes to play on teams that align with their gender identities.
The self-fact check response ad says, “What if I told you all of this way a lie? A complete lie and Bernie Moreno knows it. The truth is in Ohio, this is already banned, and Sherrod Brown agrees with Governor Mike DeWine: these decisions should be made by local sports leagues, not politicians.”
“The reason why politicians appeal to fact-checkers is because they're worried that the ad is doing damage,” Stubenrauch said.
“If you respond to an ad is because you think it needs to be responded to,” Pepper said.
Brown voted against an amendment to strip federal funding for schools that allow transgender athletes to play on teams that align with their identity. He does maintain that the decision should be up to sports leagues, not politicians.
Transgender athletes playing in leagues that align with their gender identities is banned in the state, but that law only recently went into effect. DeWine vetoed the bill, but the Republican-majority legislature eventually overturned that veto.
In a statement, Moreno’s team said, "Sherrod Brown voted multiple times against withholding federal funding to schools that allow biological men to compete in women's sports, wouldn't support a standalone bill to prohibit biological men from competing in women's athletic programs in public schools, and even refused to condemn sex change surgeries for children. He even doubled down on his refusal to oppose child sex change surgeries in this ad. The only person lying here is Brown.”