ROANOKE, Va – It’s considered one of the closest congressional races in the country, but experts with the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics says the ads for Virginia’s 5th congressional district could not be more different.
Miles Coleman is the editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball which predicts and analyzes races across the country. Coleman says when it comes to republican Bob Good’s ad’s he takes a more traditional route.
“I would say his ads are more typical ads that you would see from republicans across the country, I’m going stand with trump on the police that type of thing,” Coleman said.
As for Democrat Cameron Webb, Coleman says he takes more of a moderate approach to appeal to voters who may traditionally vote Republican.
“If this was more of a fair fight district than Webb would probably be a clear favorite, but it’s a Republican seat, so I think because of that Webb has really tried to cast himself as more of a centrist,” Coleman said.
But where exactly do all these ads come from? Coleman says a majority of political ads come from organizations not related to the candidates.
“One of the great political mysteries is that these candidates actually can’t communicate with these groups because it’s illegal,” Coleman said.
You may also be wondering why there aren’t as many ads for the presidential race, Coleman says it’s likely because the political views of Virginians have shifted.
“Just because we aren’t a swing state anymore, it’s just one of those things where we’re not really a state that’s heavily targeted now,” Coleman said.
The Center for Politics has the 5th district race as a toss-up.