Democratic Senate candidate Evan Bayh unveiled a new ad Tuesday that argues that he is not a lobbyist.
Bayh, a former Democratic senator from Indiana who’s running in 2016 to replace GOP Sen. Dan Coats, criticized his opponent, Republican Congressman Todd Young, for labeling Bayh a lobbyist. Bayh does not identify Young by name in his ad.
“My opponent is attacking me as a lobbyist. Well, that’s just a lie,” Bayh said in the ad.
Bayh touts his having “taken on the extremes of both parties” and pledged to continue doing so if elected.
“Lobby? No way. Lobs? You bet,” Bayh said near the end of the ad while making a backward basketball shot in an attempt to lob a pass to one of his sons.
Young campaign spokesman Jay Kenworthy disputed Bayh’s assertions in an email to the Washington Examiner. “He’s the partner at one of the biggest lobbying firms on K Street,” he said.
Kenworthy pointed out that Bayh’s bio at the McGuireWoods consulting firm identified Bayh as a “strategic advisor to many of the firm’s most significant clients, particularly those whose business goals are impacted by the actions of Congress, the executive branch, or by governors and legislators across the country.”
“When Hoosiers see a severe weather event, they know a tornado is coming. When they see Evan Bayh was a strategic adviser to clients with actions before Congress, they know he’s just another D.C. lobbyist,” Kenworthy said.
Kenworthy’s likening of Bayh and the tornado comes approximately three weeks after eight reported tornadoes left 18,000 people without power in the Hoosier State and hundreds of people in a Red Cross shelter.
Bayh’s ad relies on his having never registered as a federal lobbyist when working at McGuireWoods’ law and lobbying firm.
