Portman campaign launches six-figure digital ad buy

Sen. Rob Portman’s (R-Ohio). campaign will launch a six-figure digital ad buy on Thursday that seeks to portray him as a fighter for blue-collar workers in Ohio.

{mosads}The Portman campaign released a two-minute video called “Guarding Ohio Jobs” that highlights an episode in which Portman fought to have language removed from a federal spending bill that could have driven up costs for some Ohio manufacturing plants.

The ad features testimony from managers and employees of a company called Gregory Industries, a “five-generations old company” with about 125 employees that make guardrails at a plant in Canton, Ohio.

“If the bill passed, the company would not be what it is today,” one of the company’s owners says in the ad. “It would be gone, and the 125 jobs would disappear. Sen. Portman stepped in and stopped that from happening.”

“Rob Portman is on the side of the guy working two jobs, long shifts, trying to make ends meet,” says one longtime employee in the ad. “Rob Portman is on our side.”

The Portman campaign says the digital ad is the first in a series.

Ohio Democrats pushed back, blasting Portman for supporting past trade deals they say have cost the nation thousands of manufacturing jobs.

“Ohio has lost more than 300,000 manufacturing jobs since Rob Portman helped pass NAFTA, and after raking in thousands in campaign cash from corporate backers of NAFTA 2.0, Portman is pushing their latest outsourcing agenda through Congress right now,” Democratic Party spokeswoman Jennifer Donohue said in a statement. “With this disastrous outsourcing record hanging over his head, the only job Rob Portman is trying to guard is his own.”

The House on Thursday passed legislation granting President Obama fast-track authority. The bill will now go to the Senate where Portman’s vote will be closely watched as the White House and Republican leaders seek to strike a deal.

Portman is in for tough fight against former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland (D) as he seeks a second term in the Senate in 2016. The Senate race in one of the nation’s most hotly contested swing states is shaping up to be a close one.

According to a survey from the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling, Portman holds a small lead over Strickland, 43 percent to 41 percent, with 15 percent saying they’re undecided.

This story was updated at 1:37 p.m.