National Democrats are off the air in Kentucky, where polls continue to show Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell with a slight edge over Democratic challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes.
Neither the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee nor Senate Majority PAC, the super PAC connected to Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., have reserved television time in Kentucky for the period beginning Tuesday and running through Election Day, according to data on political advertising shared by media buying sources.
Monday was the final day of advertising for the DSCC. The Senate Majority PAC has been off the air since late September.
“The DSCC has now spent more than $2 million in Kentucky and continues to make targeted investments in the ground game while monitoring the race for future investments, but is currently not on the air in the state,” a DSCC official said.
Ty Matsdorf, a spokesman for Senate Majority PAC, declined to reveal whether his group has plans to jump back into the race.
“Having spent nearly $5 million in Kentucky we are heavily invested in what is one of the most completive races in the country. While we will continue to be involved, we are not going to telegraph our strategy,” he said.
Roll Call first reported the news of the DSCC going dark in Kentucky.
The timing of the Democratic groups’ exit from the Kentucky Senate race is curious, and potentially damaging to Grimes’ prospects.
It comes about 10 days after a Survey USA poll showed Grimes, Kentucky’s secretary of state, leading McConnell 46 percent to 44 percent, and one day after the two candidates met in their only debate.
But it’s possible that Democrats have determined there are better, or more necessary, investments to make than Grimes, particularly in what remains a tough environment for Democratic congressional candidates.
The face-off, held Monday evening, was widely ruled a draw, and McConnell has maintained his small but consistent lead over Grimes in the other polls that were released around the same time as the Survey USA numbers. He led 45 percent to 41 percent in a Fox News poll and 47 percent to 41 percent in a CBS News/New York Times/YouGov survey.
Still, Kentucky television is brimming with political ads. McConnell and Grimes, both well-funded, continue to spend. And a super PAC supporting McConnell, Kentuckians for Strong Leadership, went on television Tuesday with a $1.2 million, one-week buy that funded an spot attacking Grimes on coal.
