Ohio GOP Senate showdown: Dolan takes aim at Biden over border security in massive ad buy

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EXCLUSIVE - Matt Dolan is taking aim at President Biden over border security as he launches his second massive ad blitz in a month in his bid for the Republican Senate nomination in Ohio’s crowded and competitive GOP primary.

"Fentanyl on the tip of this pencil is enough to kill," the state senator from suburban Cleveland warns as he speaks to camera in his campaign commercial, which was shared first with Fox News on Monday.

Dolan then charges that "because of Joe Biden, fentanyl, cartels, and human traffickers pour across our border. The rule of law has broken down. Our national sovereignty is at risk."

DOLAN SPOTLIGHTS ‘COLD WAR’ WITH CHINA IN INAUGURAL AD BLITZ

A former county chief assistant prosecutor and state assistant attorney general before running for elected office, Dolan highlights that "as a prosecutor and a legislator, I cracked down on drug dealers and traffickers here in Ohio. In the U.S. Senate, I will fight for more Border Patrol and to finish the Wall."

Border security is a top issue with Republican voters in Ohio and across the country, and Dolan emphasizes at the end of his ad that "without a border, we have no country."

Dolan’s campaign says the spot will run statewide on broadcast and cable TV plus digitally as well, and that it is backed by a $2 million ad buy.

THE $20 MILLION AND $16 MILLION SLUGFESTS: AD SPENDING SOARS IN PENNSYLVANIA AND OHIO SENATE RACES 

Last month Dolan shelled out seven-figures to run his first campaign commercial, in which he took aim at Biden and vowed to "defeat communist China." Talk of taking a muscular approach to U.S.-Chinese relations and curbing Beijing’s influence is a message most Republican voters want to hear, and many GOP candidates running in the 2022 cycle are spotlighting the issue.

Dolan - whose family owns Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Guardians, who until last year were known for more than a century as the Indians - is one of eight GOP candidates running in the race to succeed retiring Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio.

Ohio state Sen. Matt Dolan, who's running for the GOP U.S. Senate nomination in Ohio, campaigns in Independence, Ohio on Dec. 1, 2021. (Matt Dolan campaign )

The Republican field also includes former Ohio treasurer and former two-time Senate candidate Josh Mandel; former Ohio GOP Chair Jane Timken; venture capitalist and best-selling author J.D. Vance; and 2018 Ohio Republican Senate candidate Mike Gibbons, a Cleveland entrepreneur, real estate developer and investment banker.

But unlike the other major contenders, Dolan, who has criticized former President Donald Trump over his unfounded claims the 2020 presidential election was "rigged" and "stolen," is not making a hard sell for Trump's endorsement. 

Both of Dolan's first two commercials target Biden and neither mention Trump, although they emphasize his support for Trump policies on border security and China

Dolan's major ad buys are the latest sign that in a primary race where all nearly all the major contenders have plenty of personal wealth, ad spending is soaring. According to figures from the national ad tracking firm AdImpact, nearly $16 million had been spent through Thursday by the campaigns and super PACs to run ads in the Ohio Senate race, with nearly all the spending coming in the GOP primary.

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The Ohio Senate race to date is the second most expensive in the country this cycle, behind the showdown in the neighboring battleground state of Pennsylvania for another GOP-held open seat.

The winner of the May 3 Republican primary may face off against longtime Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan of northeastern Ohio. Ryan is considered the favorite for the Democratic nomination in race that also includes progressive Morgan Harper, a former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau senior adviser and 2020 congressional candidate.