Democrats notch win in TV ad rate case

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Democrats Tuesday in a 2-1 decision that requires super PACs and political parties to pay the same rate for television ads.

The suit against the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), National Republican Congressional Committee and National Republican Senatorial Committee comes in the final stretch of campaign season.

And it follows a Supreme Court ruling along ideological lines in June that eliminated limits on coordinated spending between political parties and candidates, potentially giving Republicans a major financial advantage for upcoming elections.

Democratic Senate nominees former Sen. Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Sen. Jon Ossoff (Ga.), former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, and Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet (Mich.) filed the lawsuit.

The three-judge panel was asked to consider whether the “lowest unit charge” (LUC) — for broadcast campaign advertisements — should apply to political parties and joint fundraising commissions.

The statute allowed entities connected with a candidate’s campaign to receive the lowest unit of charge for ad buys during the 45-day period preceding a primary election and the 60-day period preceding a general election.

“There is no question that candidates are entitled to the LUC,” according to the majority opinion written by Judge Robert B. King, an appointee of former President Clinton.

“At bottom, a joint fundraising committee ‘cannot be understood to be “using” a broadcaster on behalf of a candidate when it spends money that, under FCC regulations, was contributed to it as a contribution to a non-candidate committee and that must be deemed an expenditure by that non-candidate committee.’ We thus rule that the Media Bureau’s Public Notice illegally expands scope to extend the LUC to advertisements purchased by joint fundraising committees with noncandidate members,” King continued.

Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, an appointee of former President Reagan, dissented, arguing the court did not have jurisdiction over the matter.

“The majority proposes nothing less than an upending of settled campaign finance ground rules right in the middle of an election season. Throughout this year’s primary season broadcasters have already provided LUC rates to groups the majority excludes from LUC eligibility,” Wilkinson wrote.

“If allowed to remain in effect through the date of this year’s general elections, the Public Notice will simply apply the same consistent standards to the entire election season,” he added.

Democrats celebrated the ruling, as party candidates have traditionally outraised their committees.

“Put plainly, today’s ruling makes clear that lowest unit rate is an exclusive right given to candidates and incumbent campaigns and that is the law of the land,” Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Executive Director Devan Barber and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Executive Director Julie Merz wrote in a Tuesday statement .

“Democratic candidates’ strong grassroots fundraising amplifying the voice of everyday Americans remains a fundamental advantage in the midterms, and our stronger candidates and better campaigns will secure us House and Senate majorities in November,” they added.

Republicans said they plan to appeal to the Supreme Court.