With less than a week to go until the election, a conservative super PAC announced this week that it is reinvesting in Illinois' volatile 8th Congressional District race.
The Now or Never Super PAC late last month said it was pulling $2.5 million from the race because U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) was clearly on the path to victory over Democratic challenger Tammy Duckworth. But now it is making a last-minute, $1 million ad buy in the race, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
"This is a resource and opportunity-based reversal," Tyler Harber of Now or Never explained, as reported by Crain's.
That $1 million in spending for the Walsh campaign is in addition to $1.7 million coming from FreedomWorks For America, another super PAC, according to the Sun-Times. Outside super PACs and national party groups have contributed nearly $6.6 million to the Walsh-Duckworth race.
While recent polls have shown that Duckworth holds at least a 10-point lead over Walsh heading into the Nov. 6 election, accusations have continued to fly in the race, which is one of the nation's most closely watched congressional contests.
Walsh this week has continued to raise issues related to Duckworth's former post as director of the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs.
He alleges that Duckworth fired two state workers for being whistleblowers. In response, Duckworth said she is "disgusted" that Walsh has attempted to use veterans' issues for his political gain and that lawsuits concerning the matter have been tossed from court twice, CBS Chicago reports.
Duckworth's campaign this week also released a "Walsh said WHAT?!" video featuring clips of some of the Tea Party-backed congressman's most controversial statements in recent months and years, including his previous accusation that Duckworth, a double-amputee Iraq War veteran, is not a "true hero."
Meanwhile, one of the newest Walsh ads features the congressman's son Joe Jr. saying that Duckworth "should be ashamed" for releasing an ad centered on $117,000 in back child support Walsh's ex-wife previously alleged he owed her.