MAGA-linked super PAC funding Ohio's socialist senate candidate
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Ohio voters received these Greg Levy mailers in recent days. Photo: Sam Allard/Axios
A MAGA-linked super PAC is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars promoting a socialist candidate, Greg Levy, in Ohio's closely contested U.S. Senate race.
Why it matters: The likely strategy is to siphon left-leaning voters away from Democratic candidate Sherrod Brown to benefit Republican Sen. Jon Husted.
- The tactic of boosting third-party candidates to divide an opponent's support is an electoral maneuver used by both parties and has become more popular in recent cycles.
Driving the news: Ohio voters received mailers in recent days promoting Levy, an Akron-born candidate affiliated with the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
- The mailers mimic Levy's campaign literature in style and substance, touting his support for workers' rights, trans rights and direct democracy.
- "We can start a revolution!" the mailers read. "End the Dictatorship of the Rich." "Send a worker to the U.S. Senate!"
By the numbers: Federal campaign finance records show the newly formed Enough Promises Ohio super PAC spent nearly $400,000 promoting Levy in early October.
Follow the money: Spectrum News reports the PAC hired a South Carolina printing company with ties to Big Dog Strategies, a Republican consulting firm whose founder advises Trump's MAGA Inc. super PAC.
- Big Dog's senior vice president also helped manage Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno's successful 2024 campaign against Brown.
Between the lines: Democrats knew something was amiss with the mailers because they came from a nonunion print shop — presumably anathema for a socialist candidate concerned foremost with workers.
What they're saying: Levy's campaign disavowed the mailers in a statement accusing the PAC of "digital blackface."
- "This is a highly undemocratic practice and does a disservice to voters in Ohio and throughout the country."
The other side: Enough Promises Ohio did not respond to an Axios email seeking comment.
- Husted's campaign has denied any involvement with the mailers, NBC4 reports.
What we're seeing: Calls for Levy to drop out of the race on social media.
- Levy's campaign tells Axios it has no intention of doing so.
- "As long as no other candidate will stand against genocide, fight for universal healthcare, or confront the terror ICE is inflicting on our communities, as long as all we're offered are empty promises, we will stay in this race."
Editor's note: This story has been updated with comment from Levy's campaign.