Ed Gillespie Abandoning TV Ads In Virginia Senate Race

Republican senatorial candidate Ed Gillespie speaks to the crowd as he accepts the nomination at the Virginia GOP Convention in Roanoke, Va., Saturday, June 7, 2014. Gillespie will face Sen. Mark Warner in the fall e... Republican senatorial candidate Ed Gillespie speaks to the crowd as he accepts the nomination at the Virginia GOP Convention in Roanoke, Va., Saturday, June 7, 2014. Gillespie will face Sen. Mark Warner in the fall election. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) MORE LESS
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Virginia Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Ed Gillespie has decided to abandon television ads in the last three weeks before the 2014 midterm election day.

Gillespie, who has been trailing Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), is drastically cutting the ad buys in a number of markets around the state, according to Washington D.C.’s CBS affiliate and Politico.

Warner has a large cash advantage: he has $8 million to spend while Gillespie has just $2 million, according to The Washington Post. The Post also reported that Gillespie raised $1.8 million between July and September while Warner raised $2 million that same time period.

Gillespie’s campaign refused to directly address the advertising news but added that his campaign will have enough resources to make it to the end of the race.

The Gillespie campaign said it would be “back on the air on Saturday” but would not give more details or respond to questions about further ad buys the campaign would or wouldn’t be making.

Gillespie is the former chairman of the Republican National Committee.

The TPM Polltracker average finds Warner with a 10.6 point lead over the rest of the field.

This story was updated.

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Notable Replies

  1. This is the action of a loser—which Ed Gillespie has been for his entire sorry existence.

    It’s nice to see that Virginia voters aren’t falling for the right-wing bullshit this time around.

  2. Avatar for wwss wwss says:

    I see it more as the action of someone who just realized that if he didn’t spend that money on TV ads, he might just have it left around for his own personal use after his imminent defeat.

  3. Remember how the Republicans were bragging about what a great candidate they have in Virginia? Not so much anymore . . . . .

  4. A little of both I think.

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