The powerful National Republican Congressional Committee, the party arm in charge of ensuring GOP members are elected and re-elected to Congress, will stop spending on U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman’s behalf in the 6th Congressional District.
The group confirmed the decision on Friday to The Colorado Sun.
The NRCC had spent or reserved more than $2.1 million in television ad spending for Coffman, a five-term incumbent, as he battles Democrat Jason Crow.
The group is taking back the last $1 million it had to spend through Election Day.
“Mike’s been outspent three to one by Jason Crow and his Super PACs and of course it is disappointing that Republican groups aren’t up for the fight,” Coffman’s campaign manager Tyler Sandberg said. “Mike’s spent his life in service of country and we know his supporters will rally.”
Coffman’s campaign staff on Friday afternoon was preparing an email to supporters rallying them for the final push toward Nov. 6, saying that they were neither “sad or surprised” by the funding cut, which comes just as Colorado voters are beginning to receive their ballots.
“The news from Washington, D.C., is disappointing — our national allies are pulling resources out of this battleground,” the note from Coffman says. “… Establishment Republicans in Washington, D.C., don’t know how to fight. I’m a Marine. And I do.”
The email added: “But I need you.”
The NRCC’s move follows a similar one by the House Speaker Paul Ryan-linked Congressional Leadership Fund, which slashed spending in the race earlier this month.
The NRCC, one of the biggest outside spenders on Coffman’s race, picked up some of the slack after the Congressional Leadership Fund backed out of the contest, Politico reported.
A reporter from the McClatchy News Service was first to report the NRCC news on Friday.
The 6th District race has been among the most expensive U.S. House races this cycle. The majority of the spending has come from groups backing Crow, a Denver lawyer and first-time candidate.
A recent New York Times poll showed Crow leading Coffman by 9 points. Coffman’s campaign, however, has maintained that the race is much closer — even neck and neck.
The NRCC is working to keep the Republican majority in the House, moving spending around across the nation as it battles of predictions of a so-called “blue wave” of Democratic victories.
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