(Updated to reflect that the event Kirkpatrick left was a Congress on Your Corner, not a town hall.)
A Republican-leaning Super PAC has seen the $307,000 spent by a Democratic-leaning super PAC in the Congressional District 1 race and raised it — to $411,000.
On Friday, the American Future Fund released two ads intended to boost Republican candidate Jonathan Paton over Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick. In doing so, the fund became the second Super PAC, after the House Majority PAC, to enter the hotly contested race to represent a district that covers almost half of Arizona, including Marana and Oro Valley.
(See a profile story on the CD1 candidates from today's paper here.)
One ad criticizes Kirkpatrick, using a 2009 incident in which she left a Congress on Your Corner event when faced with angry constituents. “Here in Arizona, we don’t walk away from the tough choices,” it begins.
The other ad introduces Paton, calling him “someone who will fight for our values.”
The American Future Fund is a 501(c)4 non-profit organization, which means it is not required to disclose its donors.
Kirkpatrick spokeswoman Jennifer Johnson responded to the ads in an email:
“Paton's deep ties to the payday-loan industry are so damaging that billionaires and extremist SuperPACs are now coming to his rescue. But garbage attack ads won’t save Payday Paton because folks in CD1 know that Ann has a strong record of fiscal responsibility and she always puts our district first.”
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