A Hot Dog, the Guardians, and the Biggest Senate Race in the Country

The Guardians on the radio. Funnel cakes and ferris wheels at the state fair. Trips to the swimming pool. A hot dog off the grill with Bertman mustard.

That's summer in Ohio. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.

I know you probably didn’t plan to learn about the mechanics of a U.S. Senate race on this summer day. But I want to tell you what’s been going on behind the scenes right now, because it matters a lot – and because Donald Trump and National Republicans are counting on people not paying attention.

The fact is, Ohio will determine which party controls the U.S. Senate. That’s why it’s at the top of the GOP’s target list.

As of today, July 30, Republican super PACs and dark money groups have committed $133 million to beating me in Ohio. Most of that is going to attack ads. It’s a sobering number, but I’m not sharing that to discourage you. We just need to be honest about what we’re up against.

Political ad time is purchased in July because reaching people early is key – especially in a battleground race like ours. A dollar spent on advertising now does considerably more than a dollar spent in the fall. Lots of folks make up their minds now, and it’s much harder to change a voter’s mind later in the game.

That’s why we’re working so hard to raise the funds to keep our ads on TV.

There’s also a practical problem with waiting until the fall: In a few months, the cost of ads will go up. Football is on, and everybody wants a commercial during the big games. It’s a lot more expensive to buy airtime during Ohio State and NFL games.

So the ads running today are worth several times what the same ads will be worth after Labor Day. Twenty bucks in July does the work of a hundred in October. That’s why Republicans are investing early in Ohio.

But here’s the open secret about our campaign: Tens of thousands of folks have joined this grassroots team since we launched. People believe in our message, and they are ready to flip this seat.

Before we launched, a bunch of Washington types wrote Ohio off. But you and I knew better than that.

Now, almost every analyst has moved this race into the toss-up column. The polls are neck and neck – some have me up a point, some have us tied, and a recent one had me trailing by three. But the takeaway is the same: This is an extremely close race that could go either way.

Republicans and Democrats disagree on a lot, but we do agree on this: Ohio was a long shot. Now, Ohio is the entire ballgame.

And we have a serious chance of winning.

If you’re reading this, you’re probably someone who cares deeply about our state and our country, which means you hear from campaigns like ours. Being asked for money over and over is nobody’s idea of a good time this summer – and trust me, if I could go without asking, I absolutely would. But the truth is this campaign can only compete if generous folks like you chip in whatever they can, whenever they can, a few dollars at a time.

We don't count on billionaires cutting massive checks. I'm not going to kiss up to Wall Street or Big Pharma. That’s not me. Everybody knows that.

What we’ve got is a whole lot of people – over 135,200 – chipping in what they can. Sometimes it’s $20. Sometimes it’s $3. No matter the amount, the point is the same: Your support is making a difference – and I need you to be a part of this.

This campaign is fueled by folks who are committed to giving working people a voice in the U.S. Senate.

We’ve set a big goal to raise $1.5 million by the end of the month, and we’ve got until midnight tomorrow to get there. It’s a real number tied to a real budget – the ads on the air right now, the organizers knocking doors in all 88 counties, the outreach that will decide this race.

So if you’re able, I hope you’ll chip in today. It’ll be worth a whole lot more now than it will be in the fall. And it’ll help us flip Ohio and the Senate for working people.

Donate

And if you can’t swing it right now, I understand completely. I’ll be fighting for you either way.

In solidarity,

Sherrod