Ohio Democrats are sending voters a mailer promoting a Libertarian candidate's conservative positions in the toss-up race for U.S. Senate, while a Republican group is doing the same for a Socialist candidate.
Voters may receive a mailer saying Libertarian Bill Redpath is a "dangerous," "MAGA" candidate and saying he wants smaller government and supports the 2nd Amendment "no matter what." The mailer has a note on it saying the Ohio Democratic Party paid for it.
Meanwhile, a Republican-linked political action committee has already spent millions promoting Independent candidate Greg Levy, who has condemned this strategy from the out-of-state group.
Redpath, a northwest Ohio native, told WOSU he's not a Trump supporter, but the other positions on the mailer are mostly accurate.
Redpath thinks the two major parties may be trying to influence voters to vote for him and Levy instead of Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican Jon Husted. Redpath said he isn't surprised by these "hijinks."
"Maybe they think that there are MAGA supporters out there, who are disillusioned with Jon Husted. I'm not aware of that being the case, but perhaps it's the case," Redpath said.
The Ohio Democratic Party declined comment for this story.
Enough Promises Ohio is the group backing Levy. The organization has spent more than $1.58 million so far to boost Levy.
The mailer uses fonts and bright colors, which are similar to Levy's own campaign materials. The mailer states "we can start a revolution" and promotes Levy's support of transgender rights and ending the "relentless war that has been waged on Black America," among other positions.
The group also spent money on an ad promoting Levy.
Levy is no stranger to criticizing both Democrats and Republicans. In a statement, his campaign said he isn't surprised Democrats are now using a similar strategy to Republicans boosting his candidacy.
"That billionaire-backed Democrats have also stooped to the level of deceiving voters comes as no surprise to us," the statement said.
The statement criticized the large amount of spending in this race, which has reached $400 million.
"This is exactly why we launched this campaign – to call the true nature of this system, a plutocracy, into question. Every day proves the need for a total reorganization of power into the hands of working people, starting with outlawing political donations and the legalized bribery that lets the rich buy our elections," Levy said.
Redpath said if the two major parties are that scared of him and Levy, Ohio's state legislature should have instituted rank choice voting instead of banning it in Ohio.
"There are very easy solutions and common sense solutions that I think the people of Ohio would approve of, but unfortunately the Ohio legislature stands in the way of electoral reforms that would address problems like this," Redpath said.
Redpath said he'd happily accept voters from either of the other parties, but pointed out there are many Independent and Libertarian voters who may support his campaign too.
