The National Republican Senatorial Committee released a statewide TV ad Tuesday hitting Russ Feingold, the former Democratic Wisconsin senator running to regain his old seat from incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson (R.), for hauling in 70 percent of his campaign contributions from outside the state.
The Washington Free Beacon reported in August that Feingold was pulling in an overwhelming amount of his campaign contributions from outside of the state. The new ad is part of a six-figure coordinated ad buy from the NRSC in Wisconsin.
Feingold’s out-of-state haul is in direct contrast to a long-held pledge from the former senator to rely on Wisconsinites for most of his contributions.
When Feingold first ran for Congress in 1992, he promised to rely on Wisconsin citizens for a majority of his campaign contributions throughout his entire political career as part of his infamous "Garage Door Pledge."
"I’m promising it for the future. … I’m saying that’s a pledge I am going to keep," Feingold said at the time.
"Senator Feingold is hypocritically saying one thing and doing another by making a pledge ‘for the future,’ but then breaking his word as soon as he thinks it will get him back to Washington," Ron Johnson campaign spokesman Brian Reisinger said. "Wisconsinites cannot trust Senator Feingold to keep his promises because he’s everything people hate about politics–and if he’s willing to violate his principles on the issue he built his career on, he’ll do the same thing on any issue that matters to the people of Wisconsin."
Feingold has also hauled in more than $500,000 in bundled lobbyist contributions this election cycle. The former senator spent his career in Washington railing against special interests and fought for stricter disclosures of how lobbyists were funding campaigns.