National Democrats have given up on Ohio Representative Steve Driehaus’s reelection campaign, but the race took an interesting turn today when the Ohio Elections Commission agreed to allow Driehaus’s case against a pro-life group, the Susan B. Anthony List, to proceed. 

A three-member panel of the commission ruled that there was “probable cause” to believe that the SBA List is falsely trying to claim in an ad that Driehaus “voted for taxpayer-funded abortion” in the national health care law. The panel’s vote was two-to-one, with a Republican member voting against Driehaus and a Democratic member and an independent member voting in Driehaus’s favor. The independent member, Harvey Shapiro, had to recuse himself from a 2006 gay marriage elections case because he had donated $1,000 to the campaign against a gay marriage ban. The case will be heard by the seven-member Ohio Elections Commission, which is comprised of three Democrats, three Republicans, and the independent Shapiro. “A criminal conviction for making false campaign statements is punishable by up to six months in jail and/or a fine of up to $5,000,” Cincinnati.com reports.