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Pro-Rich Lazer super PAC floods TV with $300K more in ads | Clout

The pro-Lazer super PAC is funded by John Dougherty's electricians union.

A super PAC supporting congressional candidate Rich Lazer, a former city deputy mayor, has spent $500,000 so far on TV ads.
A super PAC supporting congressional candidate Rich Lazer, a former city deputy mayor, has spent $500,000 so far on TV ads.Read moreTOM GRALISH / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

The super PAC backing Democrat Rich Lazer for Congress is flooding the Philadelphia media market with even more ads.

The group is spending more than $300,000 to air a pro-Lazer spot on cable and broadcast TV from Monday to May 5, according to a source familiar with political ad buys in the area.

The ad zeroes in on gun control: It begins with images of Parkland shooting survivor Emma González and the March for Our Lives demonstration, and promises that Lazer will "take on Trump and the NRA," "ban assault weapons," and "expand background checks." It also touches on Lazer's age a bit, with the narrator saying Mayor Kenney called him "one of the smartest and hardest-working young people I know."

The Middle Class PAC started airing ads for Lazer last week. The first spot highlighted his time working for Kenney as the city's deputy mayor of labor as well as his support of expanded pre-K. The group spent $200,000 to run the spot, bringing the grand total of the PAC's TV ad expenditures as of now to $500,000-plus.

That's double what two other candidates in Pennsylvania's Fifth Congressional District have each forked out for TV ads so far. Former Wallingford-Swarthmore school board president Mary Gay Scanlon and ex-assistant U.S. attorney Ashley Lunkenheimer have purchased roughly $230,000 and $260,000 in advertising, per a Clout source. No other candidates in the 10-person match are on TV.

Keep in mind, though: Super PACs typically must pay more for TV ads than campaigns. And Scanlon and Lunkenheimer, who are both seen as leading candidates in the field, are expected to purchase ads for the next week in short order.

The Middle Class PAC was launched by John "Johnny Doc" Dougherty, the leader of the city's politically potent electricians union.

Speaking of the electricians union, it spent more than $70,000 this week on canvassing for Lazer, according to campaign finance filings.

Dean starts running ad that slams Pa.’s all-male congressional delegation

Clout has more political-junkie news on this cloudy Friday.

Democrat Madeleine Dean, a state representative running for Congress in Pennsylvania's Fourth District, just began airing a TV ad today. And it's pretty punchy.

"Pennsylvania sends 20 people to Washington to represent us," says Dean in the spot, as pictures of the state's all-male, almost entirely white congressional delegation are displayed. "And not one is a woman. No wonder Congress is a mess!"

The ad also says that Dean "is leading the fight to reduce gun violence."

Dean is the first candidate in the Montgomery County-based primary to run a TV spot. Her Democratic opponents are former congressman Joe Hoeffel and gun control activist Shira Goodman. Dean is spending about $200,000 to air the ad over the next 11 days.