RICHMOND -- The gubernatorial campaign of Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam said Wednesday night that it was asking a new political action committee to drop an ad campaign designed to damage his rival, former congressman Tom Perriello.
The letter was addressed to Michael McShane of Keswick, near Charlottesville, who was listed in a filing with the state department of elections as the treasurer of the new PAC.
The filing said that the PAC would spend 25 percent of its funds against Perriello, the rest for Northam. It listed expenditures of about $24,000 for “digital advertisements” and almost $60,000 for “direct mail.”
Northam and Perriello are locked in a tight race for the nomination heading into the primary vote next Tuesday, June 13.
Northam wrote to McShane that he and Perriello have each run a “positive campaign,” and that when they have discussed each other’s records they have done so directly, in debates or through candidate advertising.
“Any negative campaigning against my opponent will draw an immediate denouncement from my campaign,” Northam said. “Therefore I am asking your committee to halt any and all spending that would constitute an attack on my opponent’s record.”
The Perriello campaign did not have an immediate reaction to the statement from Northam.
McShane could not immediately be reached for comment. Public records indicate that he is a former Washington-area lobbyist who has worked for Democratic candidates and officeholders. Other information about the PAC was not immediately available.
An ad sponsored by the PAC appeared on Facebook on Saturday, casting Northam as the only candidate capable of standing up to President Trump - “NOT Tom Perriello,” a female announcer’s voice says. The ad shows an image of Perriello with a red circle and slash over it. It goes on to criticize him for a vote he took in Congress that limited federal funding of abortions.
Asked why the campaign waited until the ad had been visible for five days before objecting to it, a Northam spokesman said the campaign only “became aware of the content” of the ad on Wednesday.
“We heard rumors about it, but had not seen it,” Northam spokesman David Turner said. “When we found out, we tried to stop it.”
Democrats had hoped to stage an orderly coronation of Northam as their nominee to succeed Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), who is prohibited by the state’s constitution from serving a second consecutive term.
But Perriello disrupted those plans by announcing his candidacy in January. He has tapped into the energy and progressive agenda of Sen. Bernie Sanders, and used harsh criticism of the unpopular policies of President Trump to pull even with Northam in most Virginia polls.
Democrats have been concerned that the two candidates could damage one another in a tough nomination battle, leaving the party’s standard-bearer weakened for the fall matchup against a well-funded Republican opponent. So both campaigns have made a show of avoiding personal attacks.
While they have pledged to keep things positive, Northam has criticized Perriello for getting a top rating from the NRA while in Congress, for voting for an amendment to the Affordable Care Act that would have restricted federal funding of abortion, and for boasting during his time in Congress that he had voted with Republicans.
Perriello has criticized Northam for admitting that he voted - twice - for former President George W. Bush, for having flirted with a switch to the Republican Party early in his career and for accepting campaign donations from big corporations such as Dominion Energy.
Former Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie is the strong frontrunner for that party’s nomination, with more money and far more support in polls than his two opponents -- state Sen. Frank Wagner (Virginia Beach) and Prince William County supervisor Corey Stewart.
